#be sure to check out the web version in the link there's more funny stuff that didnt make it in to the print ver!!

[sophaeros]

the strokes for rip it up - new zealand, october/november 2001 / no. 283 — print version web version

Simple Scruffy Spunks

Scruffy rock stars get all the chicks. Julie Warmington and Kylie Klein Nixon corner the dashingly shaggy boys from the Strokes in London — once at an interview, then at a party — and find they just wanna drink and rock.

Meeting Julian Casablancas is like meeting living proof that rock'n'roll will never die. The 22-year-old New Yorker and singer with the Strokes should be embracing the "now" culture of many of his peers. He should be scrupulously clean, drug and booze free, heading down to Florida for the summer break with a pretty blond on his arm and Basement Jaxx on his personal MP3 player.

But he's not. Rip It Up still hasn't met him. He's in bed, hungover and refusing to get up. He is unwashed, jet lagged and beer crusted. Yay! We don't mind. When he finally does show, two hours late for the day's round of interviews, he's dishevelled and rye. His grin is about as infectious as rabies and he is, quite frankly, sexy as fuck.

"Hey, this is new," notes band manager Ryan Gentles, who’s been sitting fretting in the hotel lobby for what appears to be half the night and all of the morning. He's referring to Julian's tan La Coste jumper, not the attitude.

When we get our turn at the Strokes info trough, the boys are tucking into Thai rice and a round of amber nectar. It's 1pm. Handshakes and suitably half-arsed "nice to meet yous" are flung at us and we wade in.

"New Zealand," bellows Fabrizio "Call Me Fab" Moretti (drummer) when he hears the article is for Rip It Up. "Man, that's supposed to be a beautiful place. I have a friend who went there on an exchange, he said it was really cool." Aww, how sweet, he's heard of us. So when are you gonna go play there? "Dunno," whispers bass player Nicolai Fraiture shyly, "but we're going to Australia next month." Ah, great. Let's move on shall we?

—

"The coolest band on the planet", "the saviours of rock", playing on the catwalks of New York and Paris, hounded, followed and adored. Rumours abound — their names are made up, they were put together by the lead singer's dad (John Casablancas, founder of the Elite Model Agency), they're constantly fighting with each other, they're constantly fighting with strangers, they drink to much, they're gay, they're straight, they're homophobes. Everybody wants to know everything they can. But one thing is sure, The Strokes are roundly agreed to be the quintessential rock band, the "great white hope" of nu-rock'n'roll. They're more than that.

They're five guys who hooked up in high school with a shared interest in booze, girls and guitars. Casablancas (the vocals, wit, sex, and charm behind The Strokes) met Nicky Valensi* (the guitar playing, gorgeously cynical, faux English schoolboy) at New York City's Drake School before being shipped off to L'Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland for some "discipline". It was here that Casablancas bonded with Albert Hammond Jnr (dead pan and wised-up afro with a guitar).

Seems the Hammonds were having the same problems as Casablancas. Neither Julian nor Albert has anything particularly nice to say about the school, apart from adoring it for introducing them to each other. A year later Julian would be re-united with Nicky and meet up with Nicolai Fraiture (bass, stoically shy and sweet) and Fabrizio Moretti (drummer, earnest and excitable, all round ace guy) at The Dwight School on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

When fate drew Albert to the Big Apple via Los Angeles (his songwriting father, Albert Hammond, wrote It Never Rains In Southern California), Julian was the first person he looked up. Luckily the first vestiges of The Strokes had already been formed and all they needed was another guitarist. Albert was their man.

They performed together — properly — for the first time in 1998. There are stories floating around about debuts at Nicky's sister's 21st birthday and seedy bars in the village. Almost all these stories they will admit, are true. So they slowly built up up a reputation until finally getting booked at New York's Mercury Lounge. There they met Ryan Gentles, who became their manager. The Strokes were complete.

The rest will be history, as premature as that might be for a band who have just released their debut album, Is This It?.

So what are they all about? Besides saving us from the glut of pre-masticated pop and souls stifling dance, what are their hopes and ambitions?

Playing music and doing their stuff, by all accounts. Their stuff: a sublime mix of 70s New York City and noughty's savvy. Fashion flash and strep throats, with a smattering of anglophilia to match the op-shop chic. Garage soul-sensibilities and themes as diverse as personal disgust and underage lust.

We discover that Julian always roots for the underdog and doesn't "really give a fuck about baseball," and that the last time Albert cried was "as the plane was taking off". For Fab it was when Nicky's girlfriend dumped him (for the cute one from Weezer no less). At this, Nicky leaps to his feet to sing, Don't Cry For Me Fabrizio, at the top of his lungs.

"The Beatles hated each other, but we love each other," Nicky says. To prove the point they all agree that if they could only take five things to a desert island they would take each other and their manager. That is until Julian demands that one band member opt out so they can "take something more useful like a girl, or our fucking instruments". Just in time Nicky reasons that they can make their instruments out of coconuts and bamboo.

The band is open and unguarded — they want to chat. Chiefly with each other, but it's fine just being around this kind of energy.

Julian F. Casablancas. Nicholai Fraiture. Fabrizio Moretti. Nicky Valensi. Albert Hammond Jnr. The Strokes have got cool names. "I guess we just had cool parents who chose our names," chimes Fab. "My mom was like: (mock Italian accent) 'I think this boy will be a rocking roll star'."

The table then descends into chaos and spilt pints as they discuss the finer moments of Mrs. Moretti's experience. "But," adds Fab soberly, "she didn't know I was only going to be a drummer... she was too extravagant."

—

They take themselves seriously, oh yes. The album, Is This It?, took them one month to record... 30 days. It is the product of their "salad days" gigging around Manhattan and Philadelphia.

"That's why it works so well," says Fab, "we've had a really really long time to perfect the album outside the studio... an album that's who we are as The Strokes."

Who they are is a piece of carefully crafted art that will move you from the groin on out. A record to be cherished for its ability to make you smile and get up. Surely this is the wonder of Is This It? It's rock'n'roll that makes ya wanna move.

After experimenting with a different producer, namely Gil Norton of Husker Du and Pixies fame, the boys went back to their old friend Gordon Raphael who originally produced their three song EP Modern Age. They wanted to cut back on production, as Albert says, "To keep it true to the live set."

They all agree that Norton was great, but not for them. "Doing things professionally doesn't fit with our style," the lax and by now pissed voice of Julian crawls across the table. "If we stay raw it sounds, like... great."

Talk about understated. On the track Take It Or Leave It you can hear this man's tonsils crying out for mercy, you can smell the blood on Albert's shirt sleeves. This ain't no Radiohead mate.

They just wanna rock, and drink. Which has to be admired.

They're so un-phased by the media's insistence on linking them to The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The Ramones and any number of late 70s New York punk they care to mention. Is This It? isn't going to shatter anyone's illusions about what these boys want to sound like.

"What a cool band to be compared to," admits Julian about The Velvet Underground. He means a band that's beloved and credible, different and weird... not to mention fucking good. "It's sorta a subconscious goal to have music that cool, but actually make it popular... a cool way to make popular music more interesting."

Rip It Up demands an explanation for so suddenly signing to majorinos RCA then. A chorus of oohs and ahhs goes up around the table before the earnest protestations that RCA are the best of a bad bunch. They do look slightly... defensive? Albert pipes up: "It's like being bisexual. Yeah, you get the best of both worlds."

The rest of the band agrees. "They just give us money and stay out of our way," says Nicky, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

Are they unrepentant about signing to a major? "I had the fucking head of RCA on the phone 4 o'clock in the morning," states Julian, "telling me how much he loved the album." Yes indeed.

Why is this not sickening? Why are the credibility censors not in overdrive? Because this is a band pure and simple. Mates who saw the spark reflected in each other. And they ain't that pretty, or well dressed. OK they are, but the point is, they just are. The Strokes were always going to happen thank Christ. A wake-up call for the apathetic. No slouching unless you mean it.

Julian says: "I wanted to make the music sound like it was from 30 years ago, but being heard now. With everything that entails. Do you understand?" If he means pared down and honest to the point of embarrassing, then yes. "Or the other way, like music from the future heard now."

True, Is This It? sounds a lot like it's something you dug out of your dad's wardrobe where the band on the cover are all wearing winkle pickers, whatever they are. There's more though, it's an understanding and knowledge that blasts the naïveté of 60s garage out into space.

Julian's descriptive powers and the knowledge aside, aren't they worried they'll lose this edge? Money, girls and power have wrecked havoc with better men than them. "But who cares as long as it sounds like we want," mutters a very distracted Nicky, only putting his head up occasionally from his magazine. "I mean, rawness, maybe we will want it more produced if that's what we like."

And herein lies the rub. In a perfect world RCA would not through money at these kids. RCA would ignore them no matter how good they actually were, no matter how much they want the cotton wool cosseting of the Big League. The band would have to work, creating themselves every step of the way. Paying their dues and becoming in the end a band utterly worthy of the 'great white hope' tag that has been hung carelessly on their coat hanger shoulders.

Will hype drown the creative spark? The worry is that in six months time no one's going to give a fig about Fab's broken hand, and Julian's dad, anymore than they'll care about any second album.

—

A few days later we bump into The Strokes lending moral support to fellow New York City space cadets, the Moldy Peaches, at their first London gig. The boys are high as heaven having come straight from the BBC where they recorded three songs for the legendary Top of the Pops. "Man," wails Julian, resplendent in pink silk tie and shiny grey suit jacket. "It was so fucking cool. It fuckin' rocked."

Fab is more sedate. "I can't believe we did it, but I fucked it up." Surely not? "I was so nervous I kept making mistakes. I sucked." But watching their performance on the show later it is easy to see that this is a band still on the rise, perfectionism aside, they control the stage, the cameras and above all, the hearts and souls of an audience more accustomed to Shaggy and Nelly Furtado. The fact that they’re on TOTP's at all (their single Hard To Explain entered the UK charts in the top 20 on a wave of passion and media hype) speaks volumes about the music buying public's desire for some Goddamn grunt.

At their epoch marking, celebrity studded, sold out show at Heaven in London, tickets are changing hands for £150 (NZ$500). The after party — the place is in a frenzy. The boys can barely move for the cameras clicking, autographs to be signed and girls hanging off every thread of their thrift store suits.

"I've been trying to get to the other side of the room for the last hour," Julian says incredulously. He's separated from his mates as they are accosted from all sides.

Nicky is posing in a photograph for a fan. Nicolai is signing a CD. Albert is being followed and literally clawed by a young female. It is as if she senses this is her only chance before he gets blasted into the rock pantheon. Fabrizio escapes the seething mass, broken hand in a sling (sadly replaced temporarily half way through their UK and Australian tour with Strokes friend Matt Romano), opting to talk to people outside the guest pass zone.

They have made it, with all that this entails. Young, talented, beautiful, cool and full of charisma, it seems that the rock and roll glitterati is at their blessed rock'n'roll feet. Hype and fashion aside, the music stands for itself. This is what we've been waiting for.

—

*Note 16/03/2025: Rip It Up appears to have gotten Nick and Nikolai mixed up. Julian and Nikolai were the ones who met first.

—

Stroke it

by Scott Kara

It’s nothing new, but God bless The Strokes. The comparisons between The Strokes and some bands from the past are obvious. Remember the first time you heard Nirvana's Nevermind or the Pixies Surfer Rosa and every damn song on the album was catchy –- well, that is true for the Strokes debut Is This it?

Even the band themselves make no secret of the formula behind their success. Julian Casablancas told Rip it Up: “I had this idea to make is This It? (their debut album] sound like music heard in the future, from 30 years ago.*

It's no surprise The Strokes stripped back gargle hails from New York, the home to the Ramones and Television.

At present American rock is known for either nu-metal - Linkin Park, Mudvayne, Limp Bizkit - or the clean and "nice" variety - Incubus, Train, Staind and Lifehouse. So it's a relief to have something as simple, raw and raunchy as The Strokes.

It makes you recall the past golden era of some American bands who paved the way for the Strokes like the Pixies, Husker Du, Sonic Youth and of course, Pavement.

As an indication of the influence these American bands had on world music take a look at Pavement front man, Stephen Malkmus. This low-key, lo-fi singer/guitarist is credited with inspiring Blur's true break-through album, The Great Escape.

Malkmus used to be friends with Blur's Damon Albarn but since Blur "ripped off" Pavement's signature sound on albums 13 and Blur, the relationship has been touchy. Malkmus is also credited with having some influence over Radiohead's OK Computer.

But if the USA has Malkmus and Pavement, then England would argue that they have Mark E Smith and the Fall. And if the USA and England have their patron saints of simple, clanging and banging music then New Zealand bands like The Clean, the Verlaines and Straitjacket Fits can claim some part in The Strokes DNA.

These so-called Flying Nun bands were a huge influence on Stephen Malkmus. "For me it was the years 1986 - 1990 when I was into Flying Nun," he told Rip It Up in April this year upon the release of his latest solo album."I went off to college and got into punk and New Zealand music. It was kind of poppy and jangly but it was slightly underground." What better way to describe The Strokes?

Clean, clang, bang

THE AMERICANS:

Ramones

Ramones (1976)

Blitzkrieg Bop was the Ramones first anthem. Rock’n’roll stripped back to its bare essentials — four chords, catchy tunes and deliciously daft words.

Television

Marquee Moon (1977)

The Strokes could very well be Television. But the difference is, Television played three-minute songs as well as ten-minute songs.

Husker Du

New Day Rising (1985)

Sonic three-man guitar rock. The opening assault of New Day Rising could just as well have signaled Apocalypse rising.

Sonic Youth

Daydream Nation (1989)

If the Ramones were simple, catchy rock’n’roll then Sonic Youth were simple, catchy, noise. Whether you’re sailing Cross The Breeze or riding a Silver Rocket — it’s a trip.

Pavement

Slanted and Enchanted (1992)

Debatable whether this is their best work but it’s what the public wanted and apparently what Blur — and Radiohead to a certain extent — needed.

THE BRITS:

The Fall

458489 A-Sides (1990)

This album encompasses the mid to late 80s when the Fall was at their arty, deviant best. Everything from warped opener Oh Brother! to the jaunt of Dead Beat Descendent.

THE NEW ZEALANDERS

The Clean

Boodle, Boodle, Boodle (1981)

Simple, catchy and child-like. It’s music that became uniquely Kiwi sounding and is a sound that many overseas still associate most strongly with NZ.

The Chills

Kaleidoscope World (1984)

This eight-song collection included everything from the dark foreboding Pink Frost to the rollicking Rolling Moon and the flutter of Kaleidoscope World.

The Bats

Daddy’s Highway

Noisy country pop music you can stage dive to. Their line up read like a mini NZ-super group including Robert Scott (ex-Clean) and Paul Kean (ex-Toy Love).

Straitjacket Fits

Melt (1990)

Shayne Carter (now Dimmer’s head honcho) has a unique voice and shows on Melt his genius songwriting talents. She Speeds might not be here, but who cares.

The Verlaines

Hallelujah All The Way Home (1985)

Graeme Dowqnes (see story over page) is a poet and story teller and puts it to music. He now teaches the rock’n’roll degree at Otago University.

[mouseteeths]

YOUTUBE LINKS this took longer than expected

Full Albums:

Brasilian Skies by Masayoshi Takanaka. I'm trying to keep my selections to the more obscure end of things, but Takanaka is famous for a reason. He rocks. I love him. Every album is a banger. His album All Of Me got popular on YouTube not so long ago, which is how I found his music.

Mamari by the Muito Kaballa Power Ensemble. I promised jazz. Excellent album art, tasteful drumming, the whole package.

Belaya Noch by Forum. This fucking video. This is the one that started it for me. Russian pop from the 80s. Lots of synth, very pop. Really very 80s you need to be ready for that.

enter the yugo zone im sorry for how many of these there are

Mumije Lažu by Pauk. From 1983. Found this one after seeing a song off the album, "Mumije," show up in my recommended. "Mumije" is like, kind of goth rock? The rest of the album is everything from rock n' roll to post punk. It's great.

Psihodelične Oči by Morbidi i Mnoći. Track 9 on the album, "Put," is very special to me and probably the band's most popular song. It's one of the songs that inspired me to learn guitar. Here is a video of them performing it ! There are higher quality versions out there but this is the one I first saw and it's very special to me.

Telo i Duša by Trivalia. Yugo goth rock ! With English vocals. I know as a fact there are better quality versions of these songs out there but I think it adds to the Feel of it.

Zastave by Paraf. Some 80s post punk.

Son Late Zigi Daj by Major. Classic Yugo rock. You can hear the influence of this kind of sound on pretty much all the other yugo albums above.

goodbye yugoslavia

Keine Gnade by Isolierband. Post punk from Germany, contains two songs "Keine Gnade" and "Kontrolle." This is one of the albums that made me want to learn guitar. As a little (25 minute) bonus, here's also Kontrolle, an unreleased album containing a different version of "Kontrolle" as well as a bunch more songs.

Tatar Bashkir Disco Vinyl. This one's a bit of an odd one out as a compilation album but frankly a lot of the songs on here I just can't find anywhere else. And they are all fire.

Here's a compilation from My Analogue Journal of Arabic language music. This video introduced me to the music of Ahmed Fakroun, who is a wonderful musician and should really hire a web designer.

OK NO MORE ALBUMS

Here's a couple single tracks I've found from collectors of music on YouTube. Special mention to Ultradiskopanorama the user responsible for sharing a great deal of the music I listened to for a long time. Please check them out !

"Aral" by Dos Mukasan. 80s rock from Kazakhstan. This one's pretty cool and has some serious Vibes to it. The organ part at the beginning is killer.

"Шириний" by Rahima Shaloer. The singer's voice is great, and I believe she still has an ongoing music career. Here's another song of hers (yes, another music video ! :D) that's clearly more recent.

Some dark ambient stuff from an unidentified artist. The uploader has a particularly funny way of categorizing their posts, with tags in their titles. I think my personal favorite has to be "Yugoslav Orthodox Medieval Darkwave" because I mean come on.

Anyway ! That's all I have the energy for right now. Maybe I'll share more in the future, but if I do I'm not sure that I'll post them from this blog. I hope you found something in here you liked ! :)

@mouseteeths im begging u please bark all u want about music.. i need that shit on my dash asap

[fangirlinglikeabus]

every target novelisation....2!

planet of giants by terrance dicks ok so i think that the reason that this is...good, and an unearthly child was...not good, is because this was written 9 years later when like. other, non-terrance dicks people were also novelising stories and he wasn’t just grinding them out on an industrial level. planet of giants isn’t one of the greats of doctor who but this is a competent adaptation - it doesn’t add much but it does flesh out what’s already there, giving us some backstory elements and making the appearance of giant insects and bodies seem a bit more dramatic than they could manage in 1964. unfortunately it also alters my favourite line from the story (‘i don't know how you know, you're supposed to know!’) and the doctor is weirdly hostile at the beginning (he’s looking forward to ditching ian and barbara, he responds to barbara’s observation ‘drily’ like he’s being a bit sarcastic over her, um, *checks notes* noticing important details). also, dicks describes this in the opening as ‘the doctor’s most grotesque and terrifying adventure’ and i’m like...planet of giants? really??

doctor who and the dalek invasion of earth by terrance dicks ok this one legitimately doesn’t change much at all. it cuts down on some things (including the doctor’s end speech being shorter - i’m assuming that’s a space thing), fleshes out on pov bits as you can in prose, gets rid of the smacked bottom line. bizarrely there are a few times that susan calls her grandfather the doctor which...i’m pretty sure wasn’t there originally. aside from all those small details, yeah it’s basically the same, but it’s well adapted for prose (i genuinely think it stands as a novel in its own right), and depending on your reading speed it might actually be a nice, shorter alternative to the television version - it was around 45 minutes less time for me. some general things i wanted to comment on: the resistance is explicitly shown as kinda gender segregated (exclusively women are preparing food when we first see it) which irritated me; the description of parliament as a symbol of ‘human progress and tradition’ reminded me of blood harvest having the lords/commons system as the Ideal Form Of Government, in terms of how terrance dicks thinks (this may only interest me? idk i very probably spend too much time thinking about the political views of this particular dead dr who script editor); there’s a use of holocaust here that’s technically accurate to what the word literally means but it felt weird to me to use it.

the rescue by ian marter oh man i’ve been busy and this took me aages to read. it kinda...diverges increasingly from the original story as it goes on. we’ve got some scenes with the seeker crew (incidentally one of them says ‘ass’ and i was like???hello???you’re allowed to do that in a dr who book from 1987???), and then most of the expanded stuff is in the climax. dr who and bennett have a full on brawl! ian, barbara and vicki visit a destroyed didoi city on their way back to the tardis! mysterious silver figures! a giant worm encounter! incidentally, this does have way more of a downer ending than the original because it’s strongly implied that the last two of the didoi were killed by seeker crewmembers who fired in a panic, after which the report that forms the epilogue ends with “goodwill to all persons” to give us a taste of bitter irony. so that’s kinda grim. um...there’s actually a lot of little changes and minor expansions to this one as well so off the top of my head: we learn more about why vicki left earth (global warming :/), sandy is a lot more threatening-looking than on screen, the crashed ship gets its name changed to astra-nine, ian and barbara hold hands briefly, barbara’s fall really leaves her beaten up. i like the seeker crew comparing the tardis briefly passing them to various non-police box objects from the future (although the link to china is a bit eastern world=alien association for my tastes), dr who telling vicki ‘give that pretty face a wipe’ is clearly him attempting to cheer her up and it’s not meant to be weird but i found it weird. finally, i’ve gotta say i appreciate ian marter’s commitment to ‘mildly unsettling’ in his descriptions of tardis materialisations. this was the last novelisation he wrote before his death (the book’s dedicated to him) and mild criticisms aside, i do think he’s a good writer and he brings an interestingly different angle to the series. 

the romans by donald cotton oh my god. how do i even start this. i’m not even going to try cataloguing all the changes because this isn’t even close to a straight adaptation. it’s told in the form of various documents collected by tacitus - the doctor’s diary, ian’s journal that he keeps to prove to the headmaster at coal hill that he and barbara haven’t just eloped (i’m not joking, this is the textual reason for it), an assassin’s letters home to his mum, nero’s scribblings, and various other little details. vicki and barbara get less attention than on screen because we don’t see much from their perspective (vicki unfortunately doesn’t even get to chase the assassin out, she just screams in this), and the nero assassination plot is exclusively confined to being mentioned in the epilogue. it’s also a lot broader, or at least consistently broader, which means that ian’s side of things is treated a lot more lightly (which i was personally fine with) but also that we still get nero’s predatory behaviour being played for laughs. there’s also a few comments about women early on that i was unhappy with, and use of fat as an insult. generally, though, i thought this was great! there were a lot of things that i don’t have space or time to include here but i really liked. i guess i’d consider this as a companion piece to the tv version rather than a replacement, which some of these do basically serve as. they tell the same basic story, but they’re so different in a lot of ways that i think it’s worth looking at both. i just checked my notes and remembered this so content warning: poppea sabina’s first section references suicide.

doctor who and the zarbi by bill strutton ok so i think the web planet is boring. i don’t know completely why, i don’t think it’s any one thing, it has some interesting ideas, but it is! it’s fucking boring! anyway, we have a bit more casual sexism in the novel, we’re missing that fun convo about aspirin between vicki and barbara, but really i don’t think it adds or changes much - like even the chapters correspond pretty much exactly to the tv cliffhangers. i guess it’s competently written prose-wise, but i genuinely can’t get over my conviction that this story is boring. am i being unfair? maybe! i like some of the early atmosphere, though, and i appreciate a book which refers to ‘the ship tardis’ (lowercase) and ‘doctor who’ throughout the entire thing. oh yeah, and i encourage you all to look up the illustrations for this. i don’t know who that woman is but she’s definitely not vicki.

doctor who and the crusaders by david whitaker ah yes, the infamous ‘susan married david cameron’ novelisation. tbh i don’t like the crusades and this has the same problems - i don’t care about the english, el akir is every orientalist stereotype whitaker could possibly cram into one man, and That’s Not How A Harem Works. do i think it’s the most egregiously racist doctor who story of all time? probably not! it certainly has sympathetic arabic characters too. but i prefer most other historicals, at least. however, if that isn’t you, i’m sure you’ll get something out of this. there aren’t any particularly extreme changes to the plot structure, although it’s missing some later scenes at the english court, but it’s well written and probably if you like the original you’ll enjoy it more than i did. there’s some dated language surrounding black characters, though, i’m not a fan of the whole ‘we aren’t so different’ speech ian has (because it rests on ‘we all believe in a higher power’ which uh. i don’t. guess that means i’m not ‘civilised’. also generally i don’t like the argument that we should respect each other because of what we have in common - you should respect other people whatever!), and the prologue at the beginning where they muse on history and destiny assumes that the english invaders and the arabs are both equally right in their own ways (the doctor outright says this!)

the space museum by glyn jones so, i really like the space museum. mainly for vicki’s revolutionary fervour, but there are other reasons too. however, i don’t think that this really adds enough to be of interest - although we do get some information about the two alien species’ biology, and a bonus explanation of why everyone speaks english (the moroks briefly considered invading earth so programmed some earth languages into their translation system). there’s a bit more wandering around the museum, some minor tweaks and expansions in other areas, an underground tunnel scene where we learn a bit of the planet’s backstory...ian and the doctor are very snippy to each other in this, which i find funny. oh yeah, and there’s a bizarrely meta bit where ian comments on poor dialogue? basically, this is a book i enjoyed, but really it just makes me want to watch the space museum instead of reading it. just a heads up, there’s a character who briefly considers suicide to get out of his bosses being angry with him. 

the chase by john peel ok before i get started i need to establish that the cover for this one slaps. anyway, i don’t respect john peel at all but this was...alright? doesn’t expand much plotwise (although i suspect both the sand monsters at the beginning and the plants at the end have slightly more to do) but we get a fair bit of pov stuff. unfortunately lacking ian’s dad dancing and hi-fi the panda, the marie celeste bit is no longer played for comedy (barbara angsts over it) and even though the two paragraphs dragging morton dill are kinda funny i’m not sure how i feel about him being committed for claiming he saw daleks. ian and barbara’s departure plays out a little differently. steven is blond for some reason. we learn as well that daleks are charged by solar panels (at least they’re pro-green energy??)

the time meddler by nigel robinson pretty competent, straight down the middle novelisation, although that is tempered by inserting some weird sexist bits for steven and also lowkey being nostalgic for 11th century england at a few points? it’s also a bit more violent than we see on tv, and if anything the rape is more loudly implied, so heads up. other than that, there are a few minor embellishments (we’re explicitly told the dr and monk recognise each other, vicki tells steven that the tardis is important to her because it’s her home, a few differences between the monk’s tardis and the doctor’s are described, vicki views steven following her as a triumphant victory in their power struggle which i personally find funny), and there’s a prologue (recapping steven’s arrival in the tardis) and an epilogue (which delays the monk’s discovery of the broken tardis because he walks to hastings first to try and get involved there). i had fun, but it’s not a must read. 

[craigrcannon]

Employee #1: Reddit

Employee #1 is a series of interviews focused on sharing the often untold stories of early employees at tech companies.

Chris Slowe was the first employee at Reddit. He worked at Reddit for five years, then Hipmunk for five years, and now he’s back at Reddit, writing code.

Discussed: YC’s First Batch, Meeting The Founders, Finishing a PhD While Working at a Startup, Keyser Söze, Reddit as Vocation, Maintaining a Life Outside a Startup, and Returning to Reddit.

Craig : You’re back at Reddit now. What’s your role at this point?

Chris : It’s kinda two things. I started off working on some front page redesign stuff that we’ve got planned. I’m also working on a new version of our algorithm. Our current version is about eight years old. I also wrote that algorithm.

Craig : [Laughter]

Chris : Practically speaking, we’re probably a hundred times bigger than we were when we wrote that, so that was my initial task. I’m also forging one of our new engineering teams, which we internally call “Anti-Evil.” We’re anti-spam, anti-abuse, and sort of anti-cheating. I guess we’re anti-everything. Pro-freedom!

Craig : Right on. And prior to re-joining Reddit you were at Hipmunk. How was it working there?

Chris : I really enjoyed it. I think the thing we learned most of all there was that breaking into travel is really hard. There are a lot of big players and most travel companies aren’t technology companies. I can’t tell you how many times I was on a call and the other person on the phone was referring to their engineering staff as “IT.”

Craig : [Laughter]

Chris : It was like, “Oh, we’re having one of those calls.”

Craig : “Let me get the nerds in here and they’ll figure it out.”

Chris : Yeah!

Craig : That’s hilarious. Ok, so could you give me the rundown of how you ended up at Reddit?

Chris : Sure. I was in Y Combinator’s first batch, along with Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. I was working at a different startup and we were doing desktop search. This was at a time before desktop search was a thing. What kind of killed us that summer was Apple coming out with Spotlight, then Google Desktop came out so we had a hard problem with so many players in the field.

At the end of that summer, my cofounder decided to go to grad school. This was the first YC batch so it was totally different. It was sort of a three month trial to build a product and see what happens. We were at the first demo day, which was actually kind of fun. Something like 20 people showed up.

Craig : Wow. So how did you connect with Steve and Alexis?

Chris : By the end of the summer I had two free bedrooms in my apartment. I was good friends with both of them at that point. I think they originally planned to move back to Virginia but I believe Paul Graham talked them out of it. So they had basically given up on their flat and now needed a place to stay. My cofounder from YC, Zak Stone, was like, “Want to stay with Chris?”. And they were like, “Okay, great.”

Craig : And at what point did you start working on Reddit?

Chris : I want to say like three months later. I was in grad school at the time and I had much more grown-up hours, where I would wake up at 7 or 8 in the morning, go to work, and come back then work on projects at night. Steve and Alexis would sleep in then work until like 4 in the morning.

Because I was up early I’d check Reddit and when it was down I’d knock on Steve’s door and be like, “Hey, site’s down.” After the third time that happened, he just showed me how to log in and start it back up.

Craig : That’s great.

Chris : So I guess my first job at Reddit was in ops. But yeah, at that point it was still Steve writing code and Alexis doing everything else. We were friends and he asked me if I wanted to join, and I did. That was probably six months after Reddit started.

Craig : You were still in grad school studying physics, right?

Chris : Yeah. That’s when I was in my fifth year of grad school.

Craig : And did you have to pause everything to make that happen?

Chris : No. So I’d go to lab and work from 8 to 6 then come home, eat dinner, and join them in the living room to hack for a while. The nice thing is, I was given work that was sort of independent of what everyone else was working on so I wasn’t a blocker.

I think the first thing I worked on was traffic monitoring. This was at a time before Google Analytics. It was like processing access logs and generating summaries and trying to figure out how to do this at scale. I must have rebuilt that damn thing eight times in the first four years.

The thing about that time was we were all learning how to program web apps while we were building them and there wasn’t really a standard operating procedure or anything.

Craig : So you were essentially working part-time?

Chris : Part-time in startup hours but it was like a full-time job. I would normally work from 6 to 2. Then go to sleep, get back up, and do it again.

You know, your 20s are a magical period of time. I could get by on four or five hours of sleep without any major side effects. Basically it was like that for all of 2006. It was like two full-time jobs. The kicker is I somehow managed to meet my wife during that period.

Craig : That’s amazing. So what happens next?

Chris : Well, the four of us – Steve, Alexis, me, and Aaron Swartz – worked on it until the acquisition, which was around Halloween 2006. And it all happened really fast. We were a 15-month-old startup.

I remember the next night I was making pizza with my girlfriend, now wife, and I called Steve and was like, “Hey, we’re making pizza, Do you want to come over?” And he was like, “I am in California.”

Craig : Whoa.

Chris : Yeah. So I was like, “Oh, well, okay then.”

Craig : [Laughter] And so how long did it take before you moved to California?

Chris : I looked for apartments in January and we moved out early February. Part of the agreement with Condé Nast was that — I think it actually said this in the contract — “Chris gets to finish his PhD.”

So I got to the point where I could leave Cambridge and write my thesis remotely. It was kind of a fun transition, going from a full-time job as a researcher and a second full-time job in a startup to a full-time job at an acquired company where I could spend my nights writing a thesis.

Craig : So let’s step back a little bit. Did you think that you would be interested in working with the Reddit guys when they moved into your apartment? Or were you just buddies?

Chris : Probably a little bit of both. At the time it was just because they were buddies and they needed a place. I had no particular plans at all. I was coming off of the failure of my first startup. We were trying to solve this problem of basically like, “I can’t find anything on my hard drive. I have all these areas I can’t search!” What happened practically is that the problem doesn’t come up any more because there is almost nothing on my hard drive that doesn’t exist in some state online.

Craig : Yeah, exactly. So what about Steve and Alexis compelled you to want to work with them?

Chris : At the time it was actually interesting just to be working as a web dev to be honest. Getting into the web scene was kind of a neat thing. I also liked Reddit.

Here’s a funny story. That summer everyone in the first YC batch was a beta tester for Reddit. This was before comments existed, so it was just a bunch of links.

Eventually it kind of opened up and we got a few people Steve didn’t know personally. But for like four months most of the content on the front page was from one of the alt accounts Steve and Alexis had. They were basically populating it as a way to make it seem like there were more people there. Because nobody wants to walk into an empty room. Right?

Craig : Right.

Chris : So my username on Reddit is KeyserSosa, which is a misspelling of Keyser Söze, which is the Usual Suspects villain.

I remember a day, probably in November, when Steve took a day off. He came back a couple hours later and there was new content on the front page and he hadn’t done anything. It was like this moment of like, “Oh, my God! It’s walking!”

Craig : [Laughter]

Chris : And he’s like, “Great! There are actually people on the site who I don’t know and they are posting all the time. There’s this one guy, KeyserSosa, who’s super active!”

They we’re like, “KeyserSosa? Who is KeyserSosa?”

And I’m like, “Oh, hi guys.”

Craig : [Laughter] That’s so good.

Chris : Anyhow. I achieved my peak on Reddit probably in the first year, in terms of being one of the top posters. And then you know, it was all downhill from there.

Craig : Yeah. I was wondering what your relationship with Reddit is now. Not the company, but the community.

Chris : I’ve definitely become much more of a lurker. My use was definitely a side effect of working on it. When I was originally here for the first five years, at the time there was never more than four or five of us working on the site.

Craig : Oh, wow.

Chris : We were kind of professionally understaffed. At least at that point we were really understaffed and always growing at a really phenomenal rate–like doubling every six months. So we were kind of wearing a lot of hats as engineers. We were engineers, and also the community team, and also infrastructure.

I am an introvert who has become an extrovert via the Internet, or something like that. I feel like lots of talking and thinking in that vein is much more draining than sitting and doing engineering work. That definitely contributed to me leaving.

Craig : Yeah, that makes sense.

Chris : So when I left the first thing I did was go on a six-month Reddit detox. Essentially I was like, “Alright. I just can’t look.” And I didn’t look at it.

The thing is, it was and still is like my baby. And I can say that, I have kids now.

When one thing goes wrong, I take it personally. In 2010 I was basically in charge, so everything was either my fault or something I had to deal with. I think the only way to not feel completely attached to all the things that were happening, or whatever mistakes were being made, or whatever drama was happening, was to step away for a little while. You kinda have to do it.

Craig : So how did your relationship with the founders and the early team change over time?

Chris : I don’t think very much, actually. The team was always small so we were and still are a group of friends. I think there’s no other option than to be like comrades in arms in that case. At the very worst, we were the 300 holding back the hordes.

I think because we got acquired so early we had to really justify our budget and keep the team small. We couldn’t get an infusion of cash to grow because we were already bought and so it sort of stunted growth initially. Another side effect is that the look of the site has kind of been the same for a very long time. There’s a whole bunch we have to kind of rebuild.

The flip side of that is that we got really nimble and good at a bunch of things. But we’re now up to I think 120 people. And we’re independent again.

Craig : So now do you have startup-like growth goals?

Chris : We’re kind of acting like a three-year-old startup with ten years of legacy and some good standard operating procedures, which is nice.

Craig : When you look back and consider the early days, how do you feel about Reddit?

Chris : It’s overall positive. It’s been a lot of fun. I mean, it’s been a lot of stress, but it’s also been a lot of fun. Since I’m back now, it’s almost like it’s not so much a part of my career as it’s become my career. Maybe “vocation” is a better word. I still take a lot of the stuff really personally even though I’ve only been back for about six months.

Our fingerprints are everywhere. I think it is fair to say that the snarky tone that still pervades Reddit is an outcropping of Steve. That’s his personality and he kind of imprints it on the community. I think in the same way a company’s tone and culture is a reflection of the founders, so to is the community it creates.

Craig : You’ve been around so many startups. Do you ever have thoughts of doing your own thing again?

Chris : I am very content to be first employee in all things. I’m close enough to be able to hear about the fundraising, and the acquisitioning, and the business side of things. But I do not get invited to any of those meetings, which is just wonderful as far as I’m concerned. Right now, my job here is as an engineering manager. I have a team of like six and honestly, that is a good size for me. I would rather be an engineer who is a manager, rather than a managing engineer, or an office manager, or C-something. I actually enjoy doing the work.

Craig : Right on. Are there any signs that you would advise someone to look for if they are considering being a first employee?

Chris : I would say the first three to six months is gonna be a slog. It’s gonna be a tough slog. That said, startups have culturally matured in the last ten years and it’s been fun to watch. When the first batch started at YC, there was all this talk like, “Oh, yeah, you should work 16 hours and day and not feel bad.”

What’s really great to see is that all those people who were working 16 hours have now grown into their thirties and realized that, “Oh, sleep is really cool.”

Craig : [Laughter]

Chris : And, “You should probably date.” And, “Do you know what is also awesome? Kids. And do you know what kids don’t let you do? Work.” So there’s been this kind of progression from just working all the time to still working hard while also having a life.

Because there are only a few people around in the beginning you have to be willing to switch hats really quickly. Especially for the startups, traffic is irregular, and you’re not up-scaled, and you have to kinda deal with that stuff live.

You’ll also have a responsibility to set the tone for the company. The same holds true with the founders.

Craig : What about the founders? Do you think there any traits successful founders share?

Chris : It sounds trite but determination. Ideas are important. Luck is important. But follow-through is really important. This is sort of separate from the founders but there’s also timing.

After we started, everyone compared us to Digg for five years before Digg had its problems. But we didn’t even know about Digg when we started.

We were a dime a dozen for a while. It was actually funny. There was us and a bunch of Digg clones, which was amusing.

Craig : Right on. Let’s stop there. Any last words of wisdom?

Chris : The internet has a long memory!

[mygoateecreation]

Photo Text For Mac

Roy ~ Welcome to the Community.

Free Happy Birthday Photo Text For Cousin

Photo Text For Pc Windows 10

Can anyone share their experience with the 'copy text from picture' property please?

I did the following tests using OneNote for Mac v.15.8 on OS X v.10.10.3:

1. Created a PNG screenshot and dragged it into OneNote. The embedded image DID have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture'.

What is text edit app. Add Text to Photos with Preview App on Mac This built-in app is rarely the first choice for Mac users who want to add text to photos, but completing this task with Preview App is remarkably easy. Open the app and import the photo you want to edit, then make sure to click on the 'Show Edit Toolbar' icon and select the 'Text Tool' feature.

2. In OneNote I did 'Save As..' on that image, which saved it as a JPG on the Desktop.

Adding text to images is a fairly simple process to begin with that is made even easier with Preview, the basic image viewing app that is bundled on all Macs. May 16, 2013  Adding text to images is a fairly simple process to begin with that is made even easier with Preview, the basic image viewing app that is bundled on all Macs.

3. Dragged that image from the Desktop back into OneNote. The embedded image DID have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture'.

4. In OneNote I did 'Save As..' on that image, which saved it as a JPG on the Desktop.

5. Dragged that image from the Desktop back into OneNote. The embedded image DID have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture'.

..So the above worked as expected, although I did have to wait a minute or two before the option of 'Copy Text from Picture' appeared. I don't know the reason you're seeing different results.

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks AlancitoXV,

I currently work with OSX Yosemite Ver10.10.3, Onenote Ver 15.8 150301,

created PNG screenshot of your reply (so it's text-based), and then dragged it from my desktop into Onenote, but the embedded image DID NOT have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture'.

I also Saved to my desktop as PNG (one time) and as JPEG (another time) a picture from my friend's notebook (which he shared with me), that had the 'Copy Text from Picture' option, and then dragged it back into Onenote, but in both cases the picture lost its ability for 'Copy Text from Picture'.

I would appreciate if anyone in Microsoft would be able to address this disparity. Seems like my Onenote is capable of 'Copy Text from Picture' only for some pictures but not for others.

I am wondering if there's a certain role.

Thanks a lot!

Roy

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Sublime text for mac. This system gives you flexibility as settings can be specified on a per-file type and per-project basis.

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

I currently work with OSX Yosemite Ver10.10.3, Onenote Ver 15.8 150301, created PNG screenshot of your reply (so it's text-based), and then dragged it from my desktop into Onenote, but the embedded image DID NOT have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture'.

Roy ~ I did the same with identical software versions & PNG screenshot and, after waiting a minute, the embedded image does have the option of 'Copy Text from Picture':

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

As could be seen in the snapshot i provide, i do not have this option available, only copy link to a paragraph.

I've waited more than a few minutes..

Hopefully this bug could be fixed in next versions of Onenote.

Thanks,

Roy

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Free Happy Birthday Photo Text For Cousin

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

• Click OK, and Word flips the text in the text box, producing a mirror image. You can create an upside-down mirror image by changing the Y setting to 180. How to rotate a text box in word mac 2008.

Hopefully this bug could be fixed in next versions of Onenote.

Roy ~ You could make sure Microsoft is aware of the problem via this feedback form:

www.microsoft.com/mac/product-feedback

…Click Select a Product… and choose OneNote for Mac. Since that site doesn't accept screenshots, you could link to this thread.

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

I've tried this action in another Mac of mine (laptop at home, instead my desktop at work) - and brilliantly, the 'copy text from picture' became active! .. (which is basically good news for my laptop, but sort of bad news for my desktop. ) - seems like there might be some platform incompatibility issues on some machines. Roy

Did this solve your problem?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for marking this as the answer.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this response?

Thanks for your feedback.

Photos capture the precious moments of our lives. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to take high-quality pictures on the first try – it’s not often that you actually want a random passerby or a misplaced finger to feature in your photos. And you know that good lighting would really enrich the colors in your pictures. And then there are the photographs that tend to fade and yellow with time. To fix these problems, you need Movavi Photo Editor for Mac – a simple program that’s equally good both for beginners and professionals.

Don’t waste your time trying to figure out how to use complicated desktop applications for photo processing. Download our easy-to-use photo editing software for Mac: it will enhance your images faster than many other image editing apps!

Photo Text For Pc Windows 10

Erase Unwanted Objects

Enhance Image Quality

Restore Old Photos

Retouch Portraits

Erase Unwanted Objects with Photo Editor for Mac

Get Rid of Excess Stuff in Your Photos

No need to avoid shooting photos in crowded places. Take photographs wherever you want and then just remove unwanted objects, random people, trash, or bad graffiti from your digital images with Movavi’s photo software. The Object Removal tool uses great care to cover all those little flaws in just a couple of minutes!

Download Movavi Photo Editor and check out all the features of the program.

A good text editor for Mac OS X. Benjamin frere. Posted: April 19, 2003 10:48AM. KDE and GNOME, for me, are two funny spare time experiments to take the best of Mac OS' and Windows' GUIs, and add on lots of features that might be of use (when they mostly are just in the way). Even Windows' GUI is far better than KDE and GNOME. Best Text Editors for Mac in 2018: Top 5 Text Editor Apps for Mac OS X. Here is the list of best text editors for Mac Os. Apps with their pros and cons are listed in the article in precise points. Download text editor for mac free. Carbon Emacs Package is a Mac-friendly distribution of the GNU Emacs text editor. It’s simple, extensible, and good for technically minded users who value the advanced features it offers. Not the most user friendly app, but worth bearing in mind. Good text editor for mac os. The best free and paid text editors for the Mac. Brackets is an open-source text editor aimed at web designers and developers. But if you want to customize a text editor to do your bidding, Brackets is a good place to start. Free - Download now; TextMate 2. Finally, this review is about the best text editor for macOS, not the best macOS application that’s also a text editor. Atom is our top pick for most people, but its design follows a different set of principles than those laid out in Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for macOS apps.

Enhance Image Quality

Make Your Photos Come Alive

Is overcast weather dulling down your photographs? Don’t panic! Mac Photo Editor will automatically amp up the brightness and contrast in your image at the touch of the Magic Enhance button. You can also change the settings manually to achieve the desired effect. See how the image adjustment works by dragging the slider under the picture.

Magic Enhance

Looking for a way to restore photos taken decades ago?

Movavi Photo Editor with its advanced image editing tools quickly removes fold lines, stains, and other small defects from old photographs that you’ve scanned. You can also automatically add color to your black-and-white photos. The program uses a smart fill algorithm to analyze and repair parts of the image that have suffered from aging. Just click the Restore button and wait for the image editor to do the photo processing for you!

Retouch portraits

Improve Your Look in an Instant

Professional photo retouching can be easy and fun. What’s more, it’s affordable with our user-friendly photo editor for Mac. Try new makeup or dye your hair. Remove skin blemishes or slim down your face. Get a Hollywood smile with the Teeth whitening tool. The only limit is your imagination!

Try All the Features of Movavi's picture editor for Mac OS

White Balance

Adjust the lighting in images. Make the photos in your library look natural.

Effects

Apply a range of creative and subtle filters to create different looks.

Text

Insert captions and titles, add decorative elements.

Sharpness & Details

Adjust clarity in blurred images and bring out textures.

Retouching

Remove blemishes, smooth out wrinkles, get rid of shine, and correct red-eye.

Crop, Rotate, Resize

Improve composition, straighten the horizon, shrink images for the Web.

Color Correction

Make your colors richer while keeping skin tones natural-looking.

Makeup

Airbrush digital eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick onto your portraits.

Inserting

Combine images and image elements to make collages.

Noise Reduction

Use presets to reduce digital noise in low-light photos.

Reshaping

Alter face shapes and silhouettes, sculpt noses, enlarge eyes.

Change Out Backgrounds

Replace the background, make it transparent, or set any color as the new background.

Looking for a quick and easy way to edit pictures? Install Movavi Photo Editor on any Apple personal computer compatible with Mac OS versions 10.7–10.13, for example, OS X Lion, OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra. The app is so easy to learn that you don’t even have to know the basics about how to edit photos on Mac. You can get to work on your MacBook Pro or Mac mini right away.

Screenshots

About

5.8.0

78.1 MB

29,95 €

System Requirements

Mac OS X® 10.7 or higher

64-bit Intel® processor

1280 × 768 screen resolution, 32-bit color

2 GB RAM

500 MB available hard disk space for installation, 1 GB for ongoing operations

Administrator permissions are required for installation

* Unfortunately, correct processing of large image files with dimensions greater than 6000×8000 pixels cannot be guaranteed.

Photo Editor

Photo Editor

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER

Edit your favorite photos and quickly organize images

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER

Edit your favorite photos and quickly organize images

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER + SLIDESHOW MAKER

Edit photos, organize images, and create great slideshows

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER + SLIDESHOW MAKER

Edit photos, organize images, and create great slideshows

Photo Editor

Photo Editor

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER

Edit your favorite photos and quickly organize images

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER

Edit your favorite photos and quickly organize images

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER + SLIDESHOW MAKER

Edit photos, organize images, and create great slideshows

PHOTO EDITOR + PHOTO MANAGER + SLIDESHOW MAKER

Edit photos, organize images, and create great slideshows

Leave us your email, and we'll send you the link to download the program to a computer.

[hella-free-space]

Repurposing “Betta Tanks”

I’m a big fan of ‘upcycling’ stuff and I hate just throwing things away (especially pricier things).

There’s SO MUCH (literally a ridiculous amount) of misinformation about bettas that gets circulated by pet stores, facebook users, pinterest users, youtube users, and even betta-centered websites! There’s also plenty of people who have gone out and purchased bettas and “betta tanks” only to find out later that they’re completely unsuitable homes for their new finned friends! D: (If you’d like to know more about bettas and proper husbandry, check out this post) It would seriously suck if I went out and bought one of those Aqueon Betta Falls tanks (they are completely inappropriate for any fish or live animals and they can seriously injure bettas and other fish), which costs around $40 btw, only to learn that I’ve got to start totally from scratch and shell out another $40-100 PER safe and proper setup (the betta falls holds up to 3 fish, so that’s up to 3 new setups). and then after buying a whole new tank and equipment, I’m left with an expensive death trap. I wouldnt feel right selling it anyone else (who might use it to house bettas) but I also don’t want to just throw it away. Do I just put it back in the box and put it up on some high shelf in the garage? NO. NO I DO NOT. I’m going to find a good use for it, and I’m hoping that some of the ideas listed below give y’all some ideas too! more under the cut

Wall Mounted Fish Bowls

[Source]  These are usually anywhere from 1/2 - 1 Gallon, and are available from a number of brands and sellers on amazon and ebay. The idea is pretty cool and novel, but obviously not a healthy home for a betta (or other fish / invert). Consider using it as a hanging terrarium or planter! You can do fresh cut flowers, marimos, pothos, bamboo, java fern, anubias, or even an entire miniature aquascape! Funny enough, you can actually buy hanging glass terrariums / planters as well, so here’s some visuals!

USB / Desktop Aquariums

NO. DON’T DO IT. PUT THOSE FISH DOWN RIGHT NOW. THEY ARE NOT GOING IN THIS TANK. I’ve seen people keep bettas, guppies, tetras, etc. in these things and I just want to make it very clear that these are NOT suitable for anything...

EXCEPT MARIMOS!! :DD Marimos love a little bit of current and can be kept in bowls, jars, or tiny tanks! I think that having a little bit of current and some mini marimos and even some miniature decor would make an awesome edition to any desk, especially since it comes with a light and pump! :) Feel free to get creative tho! you can grow bamboo, pothos, and other plants out of it as well, or do a miniature aquascape, or even do some simple aquatic plants like anacharis, or an anubias nana petite one a tiny piece of driftwood~ have fun with it! :)

Betta Falls

OF DEATH. these tanks can seriously injure your fish, are too small to hold a stable cycle, will stress the fish out (because they can see each other) and are honestly no bigger than the cups you bought them in :/ 

What’s really cool about this tank is the design, though. Its got this cascading waterfall type design which would probably be awesome for marimos since they get their round shape from being rolled around by the current! A bit of flow is the way to go~ Also, being able to do 3 totally different (or completely complementary) sections is what makes this an especially fun and challenging upcycle! 

- You can do some cool rocks or miniature aquarium decor and use it as a waterfall, similar to how these little countertop fountains are used - You can grow bamboo or other semi-aquatic plants out of these compartments - You can grow fully aquatic plants in these compartments - You can even add some fake bettas if you want to add a lil fishy centerpiece - You can do any combination of different things and you’ve got 3 compartments to decorate however you see fit! :D

Betta Cubes

no.

NO!!

YAAAAAAAAAAS!! see where I’m goin with this y’all?

Other “Betta Tanks”

Besides plants, betta tanks also make fantastic enclosures for invertebrates!! :D I’m talkin about your snails, your millipedes, your slings (baby tarantulas), and even your mantids!!

@hipsterzombiesquad took this 1/2 gallon “betta tank” and turned it into a small terrarium for their snails!! :D It’s literally the cutest thing <3 (there’s two teeny tiny snails on top of the rock ornament in case you’re looking for them!)

Amanda L. left this review about the Sweetness Betta Tank: “This is not appropriate for any fish, but I bought this to house a tarantula spiderling. My spider is quite happy and not only is the enclosure cute and a good size for this dwarf species juvenile but the interesting shape let me set up a really deep starter burrow that he's currently excavating and webbing up.”

This is one of these marina betta tanks.  Youtube user ShreckKram used it for a praying mantis! I’m not sure how tall the mantis is compared to the enclosure, but generally you want the terrarium to be 3x as tall and 2x as wide as your mantid is at the very least :)

Emzotic also used the marina betta tank for some snails! :D (skip to 6:20 to see baby snails!)

Bugsincyberspace sells a ton of different invertebrate kits as well! These are biobubble deco cubes that are often marketed towards bettas but as yall can see, they’d make a great bumblee millipede terrarium! :D

The Fish Bowl

[Source] Last but not least, we have to talk about what in the heck to do with these classic fish bowls, drum or not. These bowls are basically blank canvases and there are tons of decor ideas floating around on pinterest, but for now I wanted to give yall a few decor ideas and a then show yall some more interesting uses!

These sand bowls are a really cute alternative to live plants and with all the miniatures you can buy on amazon or ebay or at hobby lobby or michaels (or even walmart), there are so many unique themes / scenes you could choose to create. You can also do a little zen garden of sorts with rocks and different colored sand and a miniature rake even!

A fairy garden!

I don’t personally drink, but I know there are Of Age fishblrs on here, so this is for you! Tipsy Bartender also did a video for this drink!

Of course I had to include a planted terrarium too! Now, when I created a fish bowl succulent terrarium a lot of people said that it wasn’t the best kind of container for succulent since it traps humidity and there’s no drainage (feel free to drill some holes if ya know how to do that tho!). If you’re worried about keeping succulents in a bowl like this, there are tons of mosses and ferns and such that you could use to create a terrarium :) SerpaDesign has a TON of instructional videos for making terrariums!

Another decor idea! 

Now, this is similar to something I actually made for my then-boyfriend (now husband) for valentines day a few years ago. I made a little luvdisc aquarium in a dollar store fish bowl (they’re like 16 oz. super small). I used like, glass pebbles and plastic plants and filled it with this fake water stuff and it came out pretty cute! I’m so sorry that I don’t have a picture of it for yall but the concept is fun and you can do the same thing with pretty much any plastic creature you have!

The last idea I have for y’all today involves food. I’m not the best cook, but I do freakin love me some chocolate, so with halloween coming up, you can use that old fish bowl (preferably cleaned. very well.) for a party-size bowl of dirt-and-worms or the summery sandy alternative (for the vanilla or banana pudding lovers out there). This version features some cute little amphibians! And of course I had to include a dinosaur version because of course I do.

There’s tons of other holiday decor and food and drink ideas as well. since this post is sooooo incredibly long, I’ll just list these last few ideas as links instead of including pictures and everything else.

Glass halloween lighted bowls

DIY Gumball machine

DIY Candy Dispenser

Shark Jello Bowls

The cutest halloween graveyard terrarium

Fishbowl centerpieces

Frog jello cups

Caught ya bein good reward bowl

Fish-themed slime

Goldfish snack bowl

Tissue Paper Lanterns

Dinosaur Terrariums

Origami Fish bowl

Resin Fish Bowls (most of these are miniatures but i dont see why a larger version would be any less cool)

Fish bowl punch (feel free to switch it up and add gummy octopuses too)

Paint it black and make a dry ice cauldron

Paint it black and make it a cauldron candy or punch bowl

[waftr]

Deep web or Dark websites are often coined as illegal and have various strict laws implemented against their use.  Just like there are two sides of a coin, dark websites do come with a lot of essential benefits and uses for the general public. It is however imperative, that the use of dark websites be made in the right direction to benefit the society at large. Dark Web was actually created by the US Military to exchange secret information, they also created TOR (The Onion Router) for public use.

source: Infosec

Disclaimer: Any malicious activity would not only welcome some serious danger, legally and illegally but will also bring disgrace and backlash the entire web world. These websites will bait you with lucrative information for you to fell into their trap. Please be careful in accessing the links inside the dark web. Waftr or I am not responsible for any of your fault.

Why Dark Websites for Public?

As I said earlier Dark websites are created for a good purpose. The Clearnet (The websites we are using now) is getting vulnerable day by day. Also, you might be get hacked or your content can be seen by anyone these days with little information about you. Using darknet will totally mask your information, your work, your conversation with loved ones and others can't take steal your data. Again you have to be very cautious.

How to Access the Dark Web?

Dark websites are the websites that won't show up in Google or any other search engine results and they remain deep down, the only way to access those sites is to type the URL directly or use Dark web search engines. Dark websites can be accessed using TOR (The Onion Router) Browser.

You have to download and install the TOR browser and use the below-given links to access the dark web. You can also use the TOR browser to unblock any website.

Popular Dark Websites and Deep Web Links

There is a list of best dark websites with .onion extension that exist on a global platform. Again, accessing the dark sites may lead you to serious danger, kindly use these websites with care. double-check before clicking on the ads. Use any best VPN application before entering Dark Web.

1. Top Famous Websites on Dark Web

Here is the list of top Famous websites you use in the Surface or normal website. If you are concerned about your privacy, you can use TOR to access these .onion versions of the famous websites.

Facebook A mirror website of real Facebook, it lets you access the social networking site even in areas with complete inaccessibility. This Facebook provides you greater privacy over the data you share with the platform and also keeps you anonymous throughout. This Dark Facebook won't keep your logs and Hacking a Facebook account is impossible here. Financial Times Now you can read Finance News from News Websites on Dark web, Here is a mirror website of Financial Times. Debian Debian is a free globally Linux distributed open-source Operating system, here is the .onion version of the site for you to safely download the OS. Express VPN Express VPN is one of the best VPNs out there, you can use this dark site to download the software to use on any of your devices to use the internet safely. BuzzFeed Buzzfeed is another News website for Celeb news, DIY, funny videos and posts. and much more. Archive.org Also known as the Way Back Machine is a website to check how a website was in the past. Using this site you can check any website past look.

2. Search Engines

Duckduckgo - https://ift.tt/LgwySj The best search engine to remain anonymous on the web and avoid any kind of leakage of personal data while surfing on the web. It also lets you access links to onion websites which is otherwise impossible while using a regular search engine.

TORCH - https://ift.tt/1ebG9FJ Torch is the Google of Dark Web, this has more websites you can search and find as of your needs, so far Tor Search Engine has indexed more than a million websites. Type in the search bar and get the results. Also, be very cautious while going through any links on this results page too.

Dark Web Links - https://ift.tt/2heMhDU Using this search engine you can access both Darknet and Clearnet websites. You can also add your website to their search websites.

Ahmia.fi - https://ift.tt/1NCraTf Ahima is another search Engine to find hidden services in the Dark and Deep Web.

3. Secret File and Image Sharing sites

Just Upload Stuff - https://ift.tt/2e4tglK You can upload images and files up to 300 MB, the file you upload will remain on the server for a week and it will automatically get deleted once the other person downloads the file. This website request you to not upload illegal content, so please make sure you are using good content.

Share.riseup.net - https://ift.tt/2X1BO40 This is a very simple website file-sharing website, you'll see a big upload button just click on to upload a file or drag a file and once it gets uploaded. Share the URL to download the file. The maximum limit is 50mb and the file lasts for 12 hours only.

Matrix Image Uploader - https://ift.tt/1wpMCH0 This is an image sharing site with password protection and you can upload a file up to 5MB size. You can also set up automatic image deletion, metadata removal, and also set download limits.

Stronghold Paste - https://ift.tt/2dA2x3u Stronghold is a Message sharing site in the dark web, just like the above-mentioned website, here you can paste a message with title and send the message with a password and deletion date.

10 Useful Dark Websites

Below are the best useful websites you can find on the darknet for you to explore and use securely without any fear of losing data.

1. Comic book Library - https://ift.tt/2X8oScm

A website with a collection of free comic books, curated by Captain Goat. You can find nearly 2014 Comic books, you can see them by Titles, Publishers, Years, Creators and more. Go to comic book section and download and read them using PDF reader.

2. Wikileaks - https://ift.tt/1btgmob

It is one of the most popular dark websites with several high profile government data uploaded on it. It lets the user upload the content anonymously and provide direct references to the organizations. Wikileaks especially came into the spotlight when some of the valuable dates from the website were leaked. The dark web site definitely knows something which the whole world does not!

3. Protonmail - https://ift.tt/2Dh9H6D

The best way to manage the confidentiality of your emails. Proton mails are one such onion website whose headquarters are located in Switzerland at CERN, and thus even the staff of proton mail cannot access the data of your mails. All the mails are encrypted while being anonymous.

4. Hidden Answers - https://ift.tt/1UtzDQw

An alternative version of Reddit; this site provides a platform to raise a question, discuss and post stories while remaining anonymous.

5. Code Green - https://ift.tt/1HsX4Pd

Code Green is a community for Ethical Hacking. You can join the community as Sypathizer, Supporter, Hacktivist, Whistleblower, Coder or Artist.

6. Sci-hub - https://ift.tt/1lCEzEl

An advocate of the right to access scientific knowledge, sci-hub provides links to as many as 70 million scientific documents which are approximately 99% of all the scientific research work which is mostly paid and locked away in the surface web.

7. Keybase - https://ift.tt/1HsX0z0

Keybase is a messaging platform, you can use with your family, friends and even in your office for business user. Also, acts as a Social network by sharing images and messages in groups and communities. WIth Keybase you can share files securely. Keybase is acqired by Zoom recently.

8. Guerrilla Mail- https://ift.tt/2Zb1VIj

Guerrilla Mail is a disposable email service, you don't have to use your email id or create one, you can pick a random email id here and use it for sometime. You can use this during when you send a very important private message or during emergency.

9. Deepweb Radio- https://ift.tt/1OyZQpS

You'll find a list of Radio stations here, choose the one you want play and listen to the radio for free in the dark web. You'll get content type, bitrate, no of listeners and many more.

10. Write.as - https://ift.tt/1eslHVd

A simple and focused writing platform for Publishers, Blog writers and Photo submissions. No signup required and this website is totally free to use.

11. Blockchain - blockchainbdgpzk.onion

The number one site for managing all the cryptocurrency and handling all the share market business privately. It is quite scary because a lot of the mysterious bitcoin activity and business happen without the eye of the investors and the general public on the surface web.

12. The Hidden Wiki - zqktlwi4fecvo6ri.onion

It is the ultimate destination to explore deeper into the dark web with a list of hundreds of website links connecting to dark web pages. More like an index for the dark web sites out there, this could be the first place you land when you search for a particular site whose address you do not know.

13. Onion Domain - onionname3jpufot.onion

This site provides you a domain name with no cost to host your own onion website. Most of the dark websites end with the .onion domain. It would not be possible in many countries though to access these domains.

Where to find the full Dark Website list?

TorLinks - torlinksd6pdnihy.onion - There is a list with different dark web sites, arranged in categories. You can choose the site you want to access by first going to this link. Some of the categories include counterfeit money, drugs, New Movie download, etc.

More About Dark Websites

With various dark websites available for innumerable uses, it makes the process much easier by providing relevant matter at no cost. This is a major source of support for people all around the world who cannot afford the subscription to various sites. However, what needs to be kept in check is the use and source of these websites. They often contain viruses and are loaded with cybercriminals. Therefore, it is best suggested to take appropriate precautions before using these websites. Technology is all about global good, it is our responsibility to make each source count and enhance the world by using it.

The post Top 20 Dark Web Sites (Deep web links) appeared first on Waftr.com.

[dreamscript]

File #666

“So let me get this straight, Yoongi: you’re saying that this thing is the reason why your friends were found hanging from the ceiling fan? That this was the thing that nearly killed them?”

Yoongi’s convinced a double suicide attempt is actually a murder, and you’re busy stalking a comatose student’s blog.

request - 666: for continue file #666 from welcome to ff.net ; badpasta gone cereal.

horror triggers apply.

5.5k words, horror/thriller, yoongi + reader, college/cop au.

You tug the thick manila folder from the stack of files. File #666, marked as “resolved.” You take it from the storage and back to your cubicle. Ruminate over the case a bit. In a strange, twisted way, it’s funny: for months, members of the department had been making bets and dark-humored jokes about what the six hundredth and sixth case would be. Would it be bizarre? Or something more commonplace?

When case #665 turned out to be the kidnapping of twenty-six schoolchildren and gained international attention, speculations for case #666 grew exponentially. A mass murder. A mysterious outbreak. Or maybe someone would actually manage to summon Satan.

And yet, after all the debates and guesses, case #666 turned out to be a double suicide attempt. It’s uncommon—of course, but it was underwhelming compared to all the expectations it had garnered. You lay the folder on your desk before taking a seat. Two college students. Roommates. Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung. You review their profiles, just to make sure that nothing’s been changed.

Nothing has, as expected.

According to the case file, one of them was a blogger—Jimin, you think—and a link to the blog is hastily scribbled on the bottom corner of the folder:

mochi-min. university . blog . com

Dutifully, you type the URL into your browser.

The notes in the folder say that nothing of importance was found on the website; it was simply a loose, carefree, lifestyle blog. The last few entries talked about gaming—but the psychologist’s notes say that the “sudden recession” into “nostalgic times” and the “gaming world” suggest the two stressed students were simply “trying to find an escape from reality.”

And eventually, the two boys realized that the ultimate escape was Death itself, not a digital world of fantasy. So, together, they tied each other’s nooses and hung themselves from their ceiling fan.

Or so the story goes.

You think back to your talk with Yoongi earlier, the way his voice was cracked with desperation, determined to prove the facts wrong. The webpage finally loads.

The minimalistic layout is aesthetic, functional, and the sidebar contains a sunny biography of the blogger:

Jimin. University, ‘19. I love giving advice and writing about my day!!! Dance is my passion and graphic design is my major. Hmu ! ig: @mochi-minz15 sc: @pjm995

Underneath the block of text is a small photo of Jimin. You study his face, compare it to the shots in his file. Yeah—that’s him.

You quickly skim over a few posts, not exactly lingering on a particular one, before sorting them based on chronological order, oldest to newest. Twenty-four entries total. Not bad. You’d been expecting more.

First post!!

“

Hey! I’m Jimin. As an up-and-coming college sophomore, I thought I’d start up this lifestyle blog to provide advice and other college-y things for my younger followers (or at least those who were as anxious and curious about the whole college thing as I was).

School doesn’t begin until next week, but um, here’s this post anyways. I guess I’ll see y’all laters!

”

0 comments

“You’re still on that case?”

Heejun’s voice startles you. Talk about meddling co-workers—seriously. You swear that he and Sehun are the nosiest and biggest gossipers you’ll ever meet.

“Huh–wha–yeah, duh,” you say, turning around to face him. He’s got a mildly amused look on his face, one arm resting casually on your cubicle.

“Didn’t we all conclude it was just a double suicide attempt by two stressed college students?”

“No, you guys did,” you say, turning back to the blog. You’ve still got twenty-three more entries to read. “I wasn’t even assigned to the case, so I never got a say in the manner.”

“So why now?” Heejun shifts his posture. “Why all this sudden interest? And why don’t you think it’s a suicide attempt?”

You turn back to him; it feels a bit awkward talking at a computer. “I was contacted by their best friend, you see. And, funny thing is, their best friend is actually my–oh, what is it? My sister’s cousin-in-law?” Heejun raises his brows skeptically. “Well anyways, we knew each other - kind of - and he insisted that Jimin and Taehyung’s case wasn’t just a suicide.’”

“Then what is it? An almost-successful double murder attempt?” He shoots you a look and you shrug, knowing that a double murder attempt on a college campus is significantly less likely—and plausible—than a double suicide attempt. Heejun crosses his arms.

“I mean, I guess, since besides suicide, there’s no other plausible reason as to why they were both found hanging from the ceiling fan… Thank god Yoongi–that’s their best friend’s name by the way–found them when he did, and the paramedics came when they did, because otherwise those boys would’ve been goners.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. They’re both unresponsive and in critical care. They might be still be goners after all.”

“Have some sensitivity,” you say, and chuck a book at him. He smirks as he straightens up, carefully running a hand through his perfect hair. Prick.

“But seriously, why is that Yoon–Yoonji, was it?–guy so adamant about it being a sort of murder attempt? I can see why the murderer would try to hang them, you know, as a way to fool others into thinking it was a suicide, but what’s the motive? And this was done in a college dorm. Did no one hear any shouting? The walls are pretty thin. The room didn’t seem to show any signs of a struggle, which is weird because this is two full grown men we’re talking about. Not little grade schoolers who will follow you around anywhere ‘long as you got KitKats.”

“KitKats are good,” you say defensively. “But yeah no—that’s what I don’t get either. Who’d want to kill two average, not-rich-but-not-poor college students? What’s there to gain? A higher ranking? A slightly quieter dorm? Was someone jealous that the two of them managed to score a suite? I don’t get it, and Yoongi didn’t have many ideas either, but he vehemently insisted that Jimin and Taehyung would never do that, and that they did not seem to exhibit any signs of depression.”

“And, despite the lack of evidence to back up the claims other than pure intuition, you believed him and are currently studying the case right now.”

“…Yes.”

“On your own free time.”

“…Yes.”

“Please tell me that at least that Yonghi guy or whatever is helping you.”

“Yoongi was actually planning on starting his own investigation, if I hadn’t agreed. So, yes.”

Heejun still continues to look at you judgmentally, so you turn away.

“Well,” he says. “Suit yourself. Don’t forget: we got another briefing at 1.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

//

Friend opened a new shop !

“

So have any of you guys heard of Etsy? I actually didn’t know what it was until one of my friends opened up this like… shop on it. Or at least that’s how he describes it.

Anyways, I went on the website and it looks pretty cool. Kinda like a hipster E-bay and super (SUPER) artsy. My friend asked me to do a promo for him on here, so here it is:

https:/ /www .etsy .com/shop/JoonDaily

He likes to design his clothes and is practically a fashion snob in that respect, but his stuff (I hate to admit it) actually looks really nice… So y’all should go check it out!

”

3 comments

NamsgotJamz commented: Thanks for the shout-out, man. You’re a real     homie.

Guest commented: hey guys this rly worx i just made $89./hr part     time thanks to this check it out —> bit.ly/work@homescam

Pink_mario commented: what the fuck you never told me you were doing     promos, hit me up too. I’ll give you cookies.

The web page buffers for a while before the “no connection” sign comes up. You sigh, tuck your phone back into your pocket. The speeding subway car careens through the tunnel, heading towards Yoongi’s dorm. You check the time—5:06. You’re running a bit late, no thanks to Heejun.

“...the next stop is…”

You get up.

//

“So?” you say. “Come up with any new ideas?”

Yoongi shrugs. He’s still moody as ever—but now there’s this unsettling darkness about him. Determination. Vengeance. Everything brewing just beneath the surface of his pale skin, his lips thinned into a harsh line.

“I visited their dorm yesterday,” he says.

“Oh? How?”

“Got a key.” He flashes it at you before pocketing it. “Tae used to forget his all the time, so I ended up with a copy. Got it illegally replicated, but that’s beside the point.”

“Not sure if you were supposed to tell that to a cop, but okay.”

He gives you a wry smile. “But right now I consider you my partner in crime.”

You shrug. “Sure.”

“Anyways,” he says, brushing past you and towards the door. “I think that, before I say anything, you should go take a look, too. I saw some pretty… interesting things in there.”

Your chest constricts.

//

What I do in my Downtime

“

A few of you guys have been asking about what I do in my freetime/downtime—especially since I keep on telling you all that I have so much more of it now that I’m in college.

Well, most of the time I just sit in my dorm and blog, or I’ll go and hang out with my friends. Or I’ll hit the gym.

Recently, though, I’ve been getting kinda nostalgic for the old days—like, the way old days—so I’ve been kinda playing a few childhood games like Smash and Mario Kart. I actually just downloaded this PC version of Pokemon Emerald from, quite frankly, a sketchy website. I don’t think I got any viruses or anything, though. Hopefully.

So. Anyways. I really encourage people to join clubs—I’m part of a few myself—because they give you a community, and they’re always doing fun stuff so you’re never bored. Don’t be like me, though. Actually attend the meetings and get involved. I mean, I do attend some and such, but like… it’s a lot better to be really involved in one club. That’s when things get super fun, because then you really connect with everyone over that one interest….

In the meantime, you can catch me catching ‘em all…. In Pokemon Emerald (I haven’t started it yet, been kinda busy. But I’ll begin it next week and maybe post about my progress on here?)!

”

2 comments

Guest commented: COME TO THE NEXT MODEL UN MEETING, SLACKER!!!     We’ll kick you from the next conference otherwise >:(

jungl3-c00kie5 commented: wow college sounds lik so much fun. lmao nxt yr     vs me in smash ill shcool u also how much can you benchpress jw

//

“Just before we go in,” you say, “I just wanted to let you know that I brought their file with me.”

Yoongi nods wordlessly and pushes the door open. “Okay.”

“And according to the file, Taehyung was genderfluid.”

“And?” The door squeaks open. Just as the files say, there appear to be no signs of a struggle; it’s disorderly, yes, but nothing seems to be… violently tossed about. No blood on the walls, or scuffs in the paint.

“He was struggling with his sexual identity and appeared to be having trouble coming to terms both with himself and his parents.”

Yoongi looks annoyed. “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but he—he was making it, okay? He was doing well, and we were working on it, and he was slowly just getting his parents to understand.”

“And do you know if he ran into any...problems shortly before his suicide? His parents didn’t tell the cops anything of the sort—but maybe you know?”

“No,” he says bluntly. “I don’t know, but I doubt there wasn’t much of anything. Not when he had so much to live for.”

He leads you into their living room. There are no bodies, but the sense of horror is still in the room, lingering by the ceiling fan. Silently. You and Yoongi both know it and wordlessly move onto their shared bedroom.

“Yoongi,” you say, softly. His back faces you. “I know this might sound a bit… rude but… are you sure you aren’t in… denial?”

He flinches. His fists clench. You steel yourself. And then his fists unclench, and he takes a deep breath.

“Think what you want.”

You chew your bottom lip.

“Come on,” he says, jerking his chin over towards a desk. “I need to show you something.”

He heads over to a laptop, which sits open and blank. It’s been turned off. Yoongi slowly, deliberately pushes it aside, revealing a gray-black skid mark along the cream-colored wall.

“Here,” he says, pointing at the mark. “I was sent over here to help collect the valuables and have them shipped back to their families.”

You nod. “And so what’s so special about this mark?”

“It’s a long story, but in short, I’m 90% sure it’s from the laptop, which means that Jimin—that’s whose desk this is—must’ve like, pushed or thrown this thing against this wall to create such a mark. And like, he’s Jimin. He treasures his computer a lot. Hardly lets anyone touch it and is such a neat freak—like, look. He wipes his keyboard and screen daily. Not a speck of dust. Well, now there is, but before there wouldn’t be.”

Yoongi takes in a deep breath and you urge him to continue. “So he must’ve like, saw something or heard something frightening while on his computer… But I don’t know what. It must’ve been really scary, though.”

“Maybe he was watching horror movies? And this mark could’ve been there before either of them even moved into the apartment. Or it may have appeared during moving. How are you so sure?”

Yoongi shakes his head, slightly frustrated. “Jimin’s a wuss. He wouldn’t do that. And even if he did, he wouldn’t like, throw his computer. One time Jungkook pulled a scare prank on him, and all he did was scream at the screen and back away. This—it’s almost like….” Yoongi shakes his head. “It’s almost like he sensed danger from the computer itself.”

He pauses and meets your skeptical gaze. “Oookay. But that still doesn’t explain how you know that it came from the laptop, and was pretty recent.”

He shrugs. “I’ve done tests. I’ll submit them to you later.”

You narrow your eyes. “Sure, I’ll take a look at them.” You lean in, study the skid mark. Straighten up. “Okay,” you say. “So let’s just go along with this theory you’ve got here. Jimin sees something on his screen, sense his computer is a dangerous object, gets scared, throws and-or pushes it against the wall out of fright. What did he see? And what happens after that? Something crawls from the screen and hangs both him and his roommate?”

Yoongi sighs and deflates slightly. “It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”

You say nothing.

“Hey, you know,” he says. “You said you brought the files, right? Mind if I take a look at them?”

“You’re technically not allowed to,” you reply. “But if it helps us both, then I don’t mind sharing information. You just need to ask for it specifically.”

“Fair enough.”

//

“He had a blog?”

“You know, for someone who claims to be his best friend, I’m very surprised to know that you didn’t know he had one,” you say. “I mean, so many of his other friends did.”

“I mean like, I did, but I thought it was just some kind of hipster-fluffy-animals Tumblr kind of blog, not like, a legit blog!” Yoongi sounds astounded. “Damn.”

“Well, now you know.”

“Hold up,” he says. “Let me—lemme check this out. How many entries have you read up to?”

“There’s only twenty-four. I’ve read through most of them. Want to look at the rest together? The ones at the beginning didn’t really say much at all.’

“Okay.”

He chuckles at the screen as it loads, comments how the layout is “so Jimin.” He visits the Etsy link, blanches, exits. Most of posts are, just as the file says, carefree and loose.

My new Addiction

“

Oh god, I think I’m addicted to Pokemon now. I’ve only just started Emerald and already I’ve got like, 10 hours on the game. Fuck. Thankfully midterms are over but still…

(I even got my roommate hooked LOL)

Anyways, since we’ve already played this game before, my roomie and I are having a race to see who can beat it the fastest. Loser has to do chores for a week and make food. I’ve invested so much money in repellant it’s ridiculous… but hopefully I’ll be able to make it to the Elite Four like, tomorrow. Maybe.

Oh—almost forgot. I don’t know, maybe it’s because it’s a PC version and such, but this copy of the game has got some really cool (and slightly creepy) mods. And glitches. Like some of the music gets played backwards—especially Lavender Town’s. Man, that is creepy as fuck, lol. And what’s really cool, though, is that some of the people you fight against will have more than 6 pokemon. Like, there was this dude who had 10 magikarps LMFAO.

For any of you guys wanting to play this version (some of you have asked me for the download link and I’ll post that later) just know that sometimes Pokemon in your party will get swapped out/go missing… so always make sure to save!

”

2 comments

tea-HYUNG commented: wtf investing in repellant is such a good idea     THANKS FOR THE IDEA MAN NOW GET READY FOR AN ASS WHOOPING TOMORROW BC     GUESS WHOSE GOING TO BEAT HTE ELITE 4 B4 YOU?!!! Thaats rite me ho

jungl3-c00kie5 commented: lul kek

After that, the entries stop. There are no other updates after that date… And, with a twisting feeling in your gut, you note the post was made the day right before his death.

Yoongi knows it too, as his breathing stills for a second and he backs away slightly. “This—this is going to sound kind of crazy,” he says. “But do you think… the game… had anything to do with their deaths?”

“You think this is the thing that Jimin saw?”

“I—I don’t know!”

“It’s literally a rip-off Pokemon game. How… Would this kill them? In any way? And it’s two of them, mind you. Plus, to hang them…” You shake your head. “None of this is making sense. I’m sorry.”

Yoongi doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare at the ground.

“That brings me to another point, Yoongi.” He doesn’t respond, still lost in thought. You gently prod him on the shoulder.

“Yoongi?”

“Hm?” He looks at you from the corner of his eye.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?” He looks away but this time you know he’s listening.

You take in a breath. “How did you know to go to their place at half-past midnight?”

//

Jimin groans and cracks his neck, flexes his fingers, knocks back a Coke. The taste is getting a bit overly sweet and the fizz is practically gone from sitting out so long, but he drinks it anyway. Outside, the insistent pitter-patter of rainfall threatens to lull him to sleep but he resists, shifting his position. He’s finally made it to the Elite Four, and there’s no way he’s calling it quits now. Not when he’s so close, and when he knows that Taehyung’s also hard at work playing in the living room.

Ah, rivalry. Jimin tips back his near-empty Coke can, tosses it towards the trash can. He misses. Shrugs. He’ll clean that up later—right now, he’s got to focus on beating the game. His PC finally manages to load up the scene, and, unsurprisingly the music is backwards. He rolls his eyes and turns his volume way down; it’s past midnight and he’s really not in the mood for creepy glitches right now.

The battle begins. The first of the Elite Four sends out her Pokemon and the sound it makes is uncharacteristically loud—especially with his volume turned down so low—and strangely, vaguely reminds him of a twisted cry.

It’s hard, no doubt. His Pokemon are pitifully underleveled—a downside to avoiding all possible confrontation and rushing through the game—and he’s only got a few potions and full revives on hand.

“Come on,” Jimin says under his breath. “I need that critical hit—gimme that critical hit, you can do it, I believ—YES!” He jumps up in his seat, ecstatic.

When he gets to Lance, however, Jimin is more than irked. First of all, Lance isn’t supposed to be in this game; the Dragon-type specialist is supposed to be Drake. However, that’s not what’s bothering him—what’s really pissing him off is the fact that all six of the Pokemon in his party have been replaced with unknowns. His annoyance increases when he realizes the unknowns spell out “UR DEAD.”

Seriously? What kind of sick joke was this? This was probably one of those dumb glitches or mods—only this time it came at one of the worst times. He’s practically blanching at the thought of having to restart and fight the other Elites all over again—especially since the main reason why he’s made it so far is purely by chance. And an immense amount of luck.

“Of course I’m dead now,” Jimin hisses at the screen. “All I’ve got are unknowns! You can’t expect me to go into this fight and win, especially since I don’t have Rayquaza with me now…” He glowers angrily at the Pokemon.

Internally, Jimin fights a raging battle. To restart or not to restart? He chews the inside of his cheek.

“Fuck it, ‘m goin’ in.”

He’s probably going to have to restart the game anyway, so he may as well give it a go. Maybe he’ll luck out.

The battle begins, and the music changes.

Lance sends out his first Pokemon—except, to his pure, unadulterated horror, Jimin sees himself and Taehyung. Bloodied and lifeless. The sound the thing unleashes is eerily akin to screams of terror, shrieks of pain. A violent shudder runs down his spine and, throat dry and heart pounding, he shoves his laptop away from himself.

It makes a loud thump against the wall; the screen flickers. Jimin stands up, staring wide-eyed at the screen. When it flickers back again, the image of him and Taehyung is no longer there. In its place is Lance’s signature Dragonite. No blood, no shrieking noises. Just an orange, big-eyed dragon. Jimin blinks, slowly. Was he—was he imagining things?

In the next room he can hear Taehyung curse out loud. He’s fine. It’s okay. He was just seeing things; sleep deprivation does that to you. He knows—he read it in a psych textbook once. Shakily, Jimin sits back down in his chair, carefully drags his laptop towards him.

It’s just a game, he tells himself. And it’s in his computer. Like, what’s it going to do to him? Flash the Blue Screen of Death? He laughs nervously. It’s fine, he’ll be fine, he just needs to finish the game… And then he can go over and gloat to Taehyung and they can laugh about all the dumb glitches. Yeah—that’s right. That’s what’s going to happen.

\\

Thirty minutes later, Jimin stretches back in his seat, a happy—albeit tired—grin on his face. The final Pokemon screeches in defeat before disappearing into the ground. He’s finally beaten the Elite Four—somehow.

With a jump in his step, he triumphantly skips—and almost trips over various objects—to the living room, where he knows Taehyung will be sitting on the couch, PC in his lap, still furiously battling the Elite Four. He’s practically giddy with the thought of getting to see the defeated, disbelieving look on his roommate’s face.

Jimin sucks in a deep breath, grasps the handle, and throws the door open.

“Hey Tae? Guess wha—oh...fuck.”

He stares, horrified, at the shadowy, limp, very Taehyung-shaped body that swings ominously from the ceiling fan.

And then when he feels the foreign touch of fingers—no, those are bones, he realizes—on his shoulder and the brush of a skull against his cheek, he knows that he’s next.

The rough squeeze of the noose and the sudden up-and-down drop from the ceiling fan cut off his screams before they can begin.

Darkness is all that’s left.

//

Yoongi’s silent for a moment. And then, quietly, without moving to catch your eye, “What does the file say?”

You flip it open. “It says that you were going to sleep at their place after coming back from a party. Both because of the proximity and to allow your own roommate some… privacy.”

You look up at him, raise a brow. “But was that all it? The timing is almost impeccable. The coroner said they’d only been strangled for a minute or two before you’d found them. Granted, the nooses weren’t the best, but still.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I mean, yeah, I was planning to crash at theirs after my roomie told me he was going to take some girl home, but I also felt this thing deep down telling me that something was really, really wrong. Call it a sixth sense or intuition or what—I just really felt a need to check on them.” He pauses, takes in a deep breath. “It sounds suspicious, I know. But just to be clear, I have an alibi.”

You nod. “I know. Otherwise I wouldn’t be so willing to help you.”

He swallows, then gestures at Jimin’s computer. “Um, so, about that game he was playing… He never got around to posting the download link, but I happen to know the password to his computer…”

“You’re planning to play that game?” You put a hand on your hip. “How do you know it’s still on there?”

“I don’t, but it won’t hurt to check.”

“So let me get this straight, Yoongi: you’re saying that this thing is the reason why your friends were found hanging from the ceiling fan? That this was the thing that nearly killed them?” You gesture at the computer.

He shrugs. “I mean, what else do we have?”

“That’s true, but…”

“All that’s left is to play and see. What’s there to lose?” Yoongi shakes the mouse and boots up the PC.

You roll your eyes. Whatever. “Who knows?”

//

Three hours later, and the two of you have yet to encounter any of the glitches that Jimin reported.

“That’s weird,” you say. “Could it be possible he may have been exaggerating them a bit…?”

Yoongi reaches back and scratches his head. “I don’t think so… But at the same time I can’t come up with any other reasonable explanation as to how this is so different…”

You shrug. “I don’t know—maybe giving all that suspense attracted more blog viewers. People do strange things to attract more views, you know. Just saying.”

Yoongi seems reluctant and lost. “Maybe there was something wrong with the wiring that would explain some of the sounds…” He continues to mutter to himself, checking the sides of the PC before picking it up entirely. “But how does the ethernet wire affect the speakers? Maybe I can take it over to the Geek Squad at Best Buy or something…”

You sigh, check the time. “It’s getting late, Yoongi. I’m sorry, but I think I need to go. If you want, we could schedule another meeting next week? I’ll see if I can pull any more information from the servers.”

He nods absentmindedly. “Same place, same time? Wait, no actually, can we do it a bit later? Like, is 7 okay? I know it’s going to be dark and all but…”

“Sure.”

//

The final Pokémon faints, fades away, before the triumphant, happy music comes in. You yawn, stretch back in the chair. Behind you, with his legs crossed and elbows propped on the armrests, Yoongi lounges in his seat, thinking.

“So I guess that confirms it.”

You blink at him. “Confirms what? That I suck at Pokemon? It’s not my fault that you’re so crap at levelling them up—the only one above level 20 is your starter! How the hell am I supposed to fight a team of level 25 Pokemon with this mess?”

“No, not that,” Yoongi says. “And by the way, I don’t normally do that. It’s only that way since I was just messing around—wasn’t taking the game all that seriously.”

“Oh.”

“But anyways, back to the point. I was playing this game on and off through the week, sometimes alone, other times with friends and… I noticed that… the glitches only happened when I was alone…” He looks down. “And…”

“And?”

“And at one point… when one of the guys sent out a Pokemon… I could’ve sworn for a second there that... Instead of a Pokemon, it was a picture of me… except, well, bloodied. Brutally.” Yoongi swallows. “But it quickly disappeared right after a friend of mine walked into the room… Everything went normally after that. But um, I’m really really sure I wasn’t imagining it. I think I’m probably going to post on the forums and see if anyone else experiences something similar… I tried searching for stuff and the original file of this game but not only was I unable to find it, but for some reason the file is locked. Encrypted. I can’t get to it without a password, and I have no idea what it could be. Fortunately, I have a few friends who are heavily involved in cyber, so after we finish examining this game, I was planning to call them and have them help me somehow upload the game onto an online download link so we as a community can post about our experiences and stuff. Y’know?”

He fiddles with his fingers. Your eyes narrow.

“Anyways,” he says, “We should probably finish up with this game anyways. You wanna continue playing or...”

When you don’t answer, he prods you on the shoulder. “Hello?”

“As I thought,” you say, “You’re too dangerous.”

He gives you a confused, slightly suspicious look. “What?” You whip your head around, get out of your seat.

“Nevermind that,” you say, and, quickly, before he can attempt anything, shove a cupcake-shaped stress reliever—it had been sitting on the desk—into his mouth and quickly straddle him, holding his wrists together in one hand with a vice-like grip. He makes incoherent noises as he attempts to fight you off.

“It’s too bad, Yoongi,” you say, as you fumble out the length of rope with your free hand. “If you hadn’t been so adamant about it all, we could’ve avoided this fate. But the thing is you didn’t—you continued to meddle and stick your nose into something that you shouldn’t have. And now, unfortunately, you are going to have to be—well, silenced.” His movements are getting more frantic now.

“Min Yoongi,” you continue, as you swiftly—or as quickly as you can manage with one hand—loop together a noose, “a college student overcome with grief upon losing his two closest friends. After countless hours of research that ultimately led to nothing, he succumbed and hung himself in the very room his late friends took their lives in. How unfortunate.”

You gently place the noose around his neck. He fights hard against you, hands desperately trying to pry themselves from your grip. You giggle.

“That’s not going to work, you see. The undead have much greater strength with the benefit of having no muscle to tire out.” As you speak, a beam of moonlight filters in through the window and reveals you for what you really are: the human skin and flesh disappears under the silvery rays, leaving nothing behind but knotted and rotting bones. A skeleton, with no fingerprints to leave behind or heart to feel emotions.

His struggles stop abruptly as fear overtakes his body. You give him a lopsided grin. “Goodbye, Min Yoongi.”

//

Inside the University Hospital, on the fourth floor, two heart monitors beep. Their slow, mechanical sounds echo off of the walls, seeping through the cracks and diffusing in the stale air. The place smells of antiseptic.

The monitors continue to beep. In unison, the spacing between each sound growing longer and longer until finally, there’s one long, unfaltering beep that continues for nearly a minute.

And then there is nothing at all.

a/n: @goldfishh , after reading this: What The Fuck

helloooo i have a chem test in two days that i know nothing about it’s chill. so. many. projects. holy shit. and then exams starting next week fuuuun

anyways if you watched the video this was based off (it’s hilarious--it’s supposed to be a parody of bad creepypastas) then like. maybe the ending was kinda obvious lol

tbh if it was up to me (like if i weren’t trying to base it off the video) then the ending would have been much different. you, for one, would not have turned into a skeleton lmFAO

[ttstranscripts]

Transcript of The Talk Show Episode 2

Title: iPhone Initial Impressions

Hosts: John Gruber, Dan Benjamin

Release date: 3 July 2007

Description: We share our initial thoughts and impressions about our just-purchased iPhones.

Dan Benjamin: So this is a supplemental podcast to our regular weekly podcast just because we have to talk about our iPhones. So John, you got an iPhone, I guess.

John Gruber: Yeah, I did, I got one about 6:20 on Friday.

Benjamin: Yeah, I think you had a little bit of a shorter line than I did. How long did you wait?

Gruber: I got there around 11:30, and the line was about 50 or 60 deep, but I had a friend there and sort of [?] in line around space 45.

Benjamin: Nice. We had about — I heard the news say we had 300 people here in Orlando, in the Millenia Mall in Orlando. I think we had more like 400 or 500, I’m not sure. I got there at about 10:30 AM and probably got 70ish in line. How did the activation go for you?

Gruber: It went great for us, really. My wife and I, we each got an iPhone, we already had AT&T phones, but we were out of contract, we were month-to-month from a contract we had like 2.5 years ago. We have a family plan with plenty of minutes. No data plans because our phones were totally old, non-data phones. We upgraded, we just added two $20 iPhone data plans to our current account. It adds up to about — seems like no matter what you do, it adds up to about $60 a month per iPhone. I think we’re going to actually come out a little bit ahead of that. But AT&T’s family pricing seems like it’s fairly consistent, like, everybody with a reasonably recent family plan, it’s about $40 per phone per plan and $20 per iPhone.

Benjamin: Not outrageous, not too much more expensive.

Gruber: No. I don’t think so.

Benjamin: See, I have a family talk plan, I had a phone on this plan, AT&T customer, and activated it around when I got home sometime around 7:30–8 o’clock, and I was one of the people that saw the message that said, “You’ll get an email when you’re activated”, and I thought, what’s that? And just about midnight, when I had pretty much given up and said, all right, I’ll just let this thing sit here overnight, I got the email, clicked the link and it activated, but there are some other people I know who were not so lucky, and actually it took them even till the next day, and they had to take action and diligently call AT&T and Apple —

Gruber: Yes. It seems like the one and only really serious complaint about the iPhone is people whose activation was left in limbo, and it does seem like there are some people whose activations require — you have to call AT&T customer support and get them to fix it; otherwise, it’s never going to be activated.

Benjamin: Yeah, if you don’t take any action, you’re just not going to have an activation period, and how do you know if you’re the person who’s in that situation, you need to intervene vs. the person who’s really in a legitimate queue and you will get activated.

Gruber: Right, and it seems like a big problem because they’re selling so many iPhones that their customer service is just swamped. I mean, Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba wrote a thing on their weblog about his and — when he called them and spent like 45 minutes on hold and talked to them — more or less the problem was, for some people activation requires manual processing on AT&T’s end and whoever handled his just didn’t do the last step. There was like a final button, “Activate”, and they just never clicked it —

Benjamin: Wouldn’t it just kill you if you found out that literally a guy just forgot to click an OK button?

Gruber: I especially feel bad for the people who waited all day Friday because obviously if you’re that hepped up — I mean, even you, even you having to wait till midnight, that would’ve killed me. One of the big reasons that I did it, waited in line Friday, number one, I was afraid that they were going to sell out right away.

Benjamin: Totally.

Gruber: Well, that proved not to be the case. But I wanted to write something for Daring Fireball for the first day, just use it for a couple hours, drop a list of first impressions and notes and stuff like that and publish it, which I got to do. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had to wait till midnight to activate.

Benjamin: No, because all you could’ve done would’ve been to slide the slider and dial 911.

Gruber: Right. And that’s also the other thing that sort of stinks, is that I don’t know if it was Apple or AT&T, but somebody led people to believe that even before activation is complete, at least if you go through the iTunes part of registering your phone and waiting for activation, everything else would be active, and that’s not the case. Until the AT&T sends the signal to the SIM card, the iPhone is literally a brick, the only thing you can do is call 911.

Benjamin: Right. So what do you think, you’ve got the iPhone, is it not the coolest thing that Apple’s ever made? Is it safe to just say that, to say it’s the best Apple product maybe all around?

Gruber: I don’t know, it’s got to be close. I really do think — I mean comparisons to original Macintosh are completely legitimate. Really, just in terms of moving the state of the art forward in terms of what people can expect. And I think it’s funny because I think The New York Times had a story today about the Korean and Japanese electronics companies’ reactions to the iPhone, and that when they first announced it back in January, they were like, “Ahh, big deal, that’s just silly Americans getting excited about this, we’ve had these advanced cell phones that do cool stuff for years.” I think what they were doing was looking at it in terms of like a checklist: email, web, video on the phone, music playback on the phone, check, check, check, check, check — our phones already do all this stuff. Whereas it’s not really what the iPhone does, it’s just the way that it works, the way that it’s just so seamless.

Benjamin: 100 percent of the success of the iPhone, I think, maybe not 100, but 90 percent is going to be not the features, but the implementation.

Gruber: Exactly.

Benjamin: The way that people interact with the thing.

Gruber: And I mean, for example, if you call web browsing a feature and you just say, “Well, my phone does it too”, you’re totally missing the point. By far and away, the best app on the iPhone is Safari. I probably would’ve paid just as much money and waited in line for an iPhone that only had the phone and Safari.

Benjamin: [laughs] I think that’s key to it, but I’ll tell you what, that’s more important I think to people like us, but what’s funny is — and I had told you this but I think it’s worth mentioning here — I had an eye doctor appointment today, and while I was in the waiting room waiting, brought the phone out to check email. Interestingly enough, it found their wireless network, and I jumped right on that, which is just the coolest thing in the world, and so one of the people came up to me who worked there, and she’s like, “Oh, is that the new phone?” “Yeah, yeah.” Immediately I had a crowd of about 10 people who wanted me to just demo it, and the thing that I saw, they had the biggest reaction to, the thing they thought was the coolest — they loved the virtual keyboard, which really surprised me because that’s something that I would’ve thought people would’ve right away said, “Oh, that won’t work”, but when they saw me two-thumb typing on it really fast, they all just kind of looked at each other, like, oh wow, that’s cool. But the thing that got the biggest reaction wasn’t the webpage, it was flicking the photos back and forth and zooming in on them and rotating. That is like — people, they loved that, that was like the coolest thing they’ve ever seen.

Gruber: Right. My son, a 3.5-year-old boy, he’s totally picked up on the phone, and that Photos interface is just so — the flicking, he loves it. I have a couple vacation trips, folders from iPhoto synced to it, I’ll just bring one up and he’ll just be, “Let me see Christmas pictures”, and I’ll just bring up Christmas pictures and I’ll hold the phone and he’ll flick through — because that’s really all you do, you just flick, it really is nice. And it’s so fast.

Benjamin: It’s so fast.

Gruber: I just can’t express how you never have to wait for anything on the iPhone.

Benjamin: There’s no waiting and I think that is something that Apple has really gotten right. Every single feature on that last phone that I had that ran the miniature version of Windows, everything was waiting. I think it’s the instantaneous responsiveness of the iPhone — everything that you want to do, whether it’s — yeah, if you’re on the EDGE network, which, by the way, is much faster than people were saying, not as fast as broadband, of course, but not slow, I don’t think — with that as an exception, everything is pretty much instantaneous.

Gruber: Yeah, exactly. And for example, comparing it to iPhoto on the Mac, I mean, iPhoto has gotten a lot faster over the years, but if you’re just going through pictures, just like, hey, bring up this one group in iPhoto and just go through the slideshow, it’s usually pretty fast, and it caches the next one, but if you go fast enough, a lot of times you’ll get the beach ball, and you’ll have to wait because you’ve gone ahead of where it goes. Of course, the iPhone doesn’t have to show the full — it’s only a 480-pixel wide screen, but whatever they’re doing to cache them, to make them smaller, whatever they’re doing, it just works, instantly. It never looks like a low-res version is loading and then it’s high-res — you just immediately flick and you get the version of the picture that’s as good as it can possibly look on this screen.

Benjamin: Right, it’s just there. And it makes you feel like you’re actually manipulating the picture itself or whatever it is you’re doing on the phone, you feel like when you touch it, you’re actually moving the thing around. And I think some people have some legitimate complaints about things that are missing, one of them — and we’ve talked about this and James Duncan Davidson has a great list, a lot of people have really good lists of things they like and things they feel are missing. People talk about copy and paste, but I think your point earlier today was like, you can see why it’s not there because how do you actually implement that with this type of user interface? It’s a hard problem.

Gruber: Here’s my thinking about that, the more I think about the lack of copy and paste and selectable text, is that maybe they have an idea of how they’ll do it, maybe they had it in previous — while they were developing it, you know, versions — I think Craig Hockenberry had a good point on his weblog post where he said, you’re probably wrong if you think that they didn’t build a bunch of different UIs for this and threw them away before they settled on this, even though it’s a 1.0 product. The thinking behind the whole UI, the metaphors — I think they probably experimented a lot, and I think with the cut, copy and paste and the lack of text selection and that they agreed upon this simple interface that doesn’t have it — it reminds me of the fact that the original Mac in 1984 didn’t have arrow keys on the keyboard, and the reason for that if you read Andy Hertzfeld’s book or his website folklore.org with a bunch of stories from the original Mac, the idea was that they didn’t — whether it was Jobs personally or the overall team agreed — but more or less the people who were pushing for the radical GUI interface — which was totally radical at the time — didn’t want arrow keys, because they wanted to force people to use the mouse, and they wanted to force application designers to design applications they made you use the mouse.

Benjamin: It was almost forcing a new kind of mentality.

Gruber: Right, so if they don’t have cut, copy and paste, it’s like an enforced — there’s a limitation in place that forces them to create an interface that lets you work without it. And of course, we’re running into the fact that they haven’t covered all the cases, and there’s so many little places where you’d like to be able to like, ah, if I could just cut that, copy that URL, and go to the other page in Safari, so I could paste it into this Twitter field, so I could paste a URL in there, it would be so nice. But overall, the fact that we miss cut, copy and paste — we miss it but you still get so much done without it, and the fact that it’s not there is like, it’s just a way to force them to make it as good as they can without it.

Benjamin: Right. Well, jumping ahead a little bit, I was talking to Mike Davidson, who a lot of people would know from Newsvine, and he and I, we were talking, and he was going through and saying, “Here’s some things that I miss, here’s some things that I really need”, and one of them that he was saying was, “A friend of mine took a picture of a person that was good that I wanted to use as a contact picture, and there was no easy way for him to get that to me. He could email it to me, but then how could I use that, the [photo] which I just received in the email on my phone, how can I use that as the contact picture for the person here?” And I said, “Well, that’s easy, when you get the email, you just drag it on your Mac, drag it into your contact in Address Book.” And he said, “Well, I don’t use Address Book, I don’t want to do that on my Mac. What I want to do is to be able to do that on the phone, and what I really want is a file system so that I can browse the file system, I can save things out of Safari or that people send me.” And I realized that in a way, the last thing — and I’m an old-school UNIX guy, so if anybody should want a file system, it should be me, right — but I actually don’t want a file system on my iPhone, or the fact is, I want there to be one, I just don’t want to know about it. And in a way cut, copy and paste would have solved that problem for him if he had been able to copy that image and paste it into his contact right there, that would’ve solved that. But in a way it’s like, I think one of the big arguments about Macs way back in the day, especially with, like, system 7 time period or even 8, was that some people felt they didn’t have enough control over the operating system of the computer. And on Windows you could tweak every single little thing, and on the Mac you couldn’t, and I think with OS X that’s kind of gone away because you can now do even more on a Mac than you can do on a PC from a technical level behind the scenes — people are going to flame me for saying that — but in any case, the last thing I want on my phone is a file system, or even access to it. What do you think about that, is that nuts?

Gruber: I think that everything that you think of, from a computer science perspective, what makes a computer computer, the file system, the idea of processes, it’s all sort of abstracted away on the iPhone and that’s clearly part of the overall design, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. So you never, as the user of the phone, never actually get to see the file system. You don’t quit or launch or close applications, you just go back to Home, click them. It’s still not clear to me using it, when they quit and when —

Benjamin: Do they quit? Do they ever quit?

Gruber: I don’t know, it seems like Safari sometimes quits, because when I go back to Safari and I click — say, I have three or four pages open in Safari, and I click the little button to let me list them, instead of showing me previews, they’re all blank. It remembers the URLs.

Benjamin: It’ll reload them, you’ll see them kind of coming back.

Gruber: But if you switch to one of them, you have to wait for it to refresh. Whereas if you do it right away, if you switch out of Safari and come back, they are all there and you just click on them and they’re already loaded. Whereas eventually it seems like Safari quits and when you switch back to it, relaunches, but it’s all abstracted away, you as the user never have to worry about that.

Benjamin: I’ll tell you what I think the philosophy — it’s one of those things where if you come into the iPhone looking for a small portable computer, you will not find that. But if you come to the iPhone looking for essentially — and I’ve heard somebody, I forget who it was, but somebody was calling it almost like it’s a satellite of the computer, or a portal to the computer. That’s a much better way to think of it. It allows you to sort of extend your computer, extend your desktop to this sort of portable device. I never really looked at my iPod as being like, that’s where my music lives. My music lives on my computer, and now I can take that music with me. And I think this is the same way you might think of it: my contacts, my calendar, my email, my browsing — that lives on the computer, but this is a way for me to take a lot of that and maybe even most of it with me wherever I go and be able to use it anytime. Is that fair?

Gruber: I think so, and I think it’s the single biggest philosophical difference from the Newton. I mean, to me the big problem, the core problem with the Newton back in the day was that the Newton was — and obviously some Newton people might disagree with me, this is obviously subjective — but my opinion is that the Newton was designed as a big new thing that completely replaced, ultimately would completely replace the need for a Mac. And whether it was egos, like, the Newton was developed after Jobs had left the company, and Sculley was running it, and the Mac was still seen as Jobs’s baby, and Sculley wanted something that was his Macintosh, his stamp on the industry. But anybody who actually used a Newton back in the day — Newton syncing was really bad, I forget the name of the app you used to sync, but it was like, almost nothing synced, the Mac didn’t even have standard address book and calendar apps at the time, so when you put events in the Newton, where did they go on your Mac? It was how you did downloads, if you wanted to add a new app to your Newton, you’d download it to your Mac and you’d fire up the Newton sync thingy and connect it with a serial cable and drag it over or whatever. It was really sort of a different universe, it was not really a satellite to your Mac, it was like something that, I think, ultimately if it had succeeded, would’ve replaced the Mac in Apple’s product line. And it was brilliant in so many ways, and so far ahead of its time. In so many ways it was just as far ahead of its time as the iPhone is. But the problem is that, it was so ambitious because it was meant to be a complete stand-alone all-by-itself thing whereas the iPhone is clearly meant as the satellite to your PC. And I think it’s more like the Palm Pilot, the original Palm Pilot, which was such a sensation in terms of its ambition in that regard. I think that’s why the Palm Pilot was so much more successful than the Newton because it was clearly a PC peripheral, not a PC replacement. That’s what I think.

Benjamin: I think you’re right. So we should probably take a second to say why, if there’s all kind of sound artifacts that people are hearing, why is that, John?

Gruber: Oh, I’m down at the shore. I’m on vacation for a couple days, and somebody forgot to pack my USB microphone.

Benjamin: So you’re talking into your MacBook.

Gruber: Yeah, this is just me talking — I don’t even have a MacBook, I’ve got an old, uh —

Benjamin: That’s right, a PowerBook.

Gruber: No, it’s an old Mac Portable from 1993.

Benjamin: Right. [laughs]

Gruber: It’s the size — I pack a suitcase and then I pack my Mac Portable, it’s about the same size.

Benjamin: I just have to say one more cool thing about the iPhone that happened today. My friend Ryan Irelan had called me, and he wanted to try out the conference call feature. So he conference-called, added in, which was so easy to do — I barely know how to use three-way calling on my regular home phone line, I’m almost sure how I use that. But on the iPhone it’s even easier and — so Ryan conferenced in Dan Cederholm, but Dan wasn’t there. So then Dan called back on Ryan’s other line, and Ryan then merged the two calls. And then you called me on my iPhone, and I said, “Hold on a minute, John”, only because I looked at the phone and there was this little “Merge calls” button that just showed up, and I clicked that, and now we were having a call with you, me, Ryan, and Dan, none of whom we had intentionally conference-called, just clicking this little “Merge calls” button.

Gruber: I didn’t even know that it would work that way where you and Ryan started the call, then Ryan conferenced in Dan, and you conferenced in me, so it’s not like one person has to be the person who does all of the adding new people.

Benjamin: And the sound quality, I thought, was great!

Gruber: It was phenomenal, I have to say. To me, the audio quality on the call so far ranges from amazing to at worse — ah, pretty good. But that call in particular, I thought the quality was outstanding.

Benjamin: Kind of amazing what they’ve been able to do. Even just the basic calling features, the way that things work — I didn’t even know if my old phone had a flash button or if I could use three-way calling. The other thing that’s certainly cool is visual voice mail and I think you said to me earlier today, the visual voice mail is so good that you don’t ever want anybody to call your regular home line again.

Gruber: No, I don’t, because to me the biggest pain is when you go somewhere and you come back and you’ve got five-six messages on your phone or whatever. Half of them are from people who then went ahead and emailed you or contacted you on AIM or called your cell phone or whatever, and they’re already out of date. Or if you go away for a couple of days and some of the calls aren’t even relevant anymore, and you still have to sit down and listen to them all and hit delete, blah blah blah, it’s awful. Half the time I just delete them all and assume that if any of them were important, they’ll just call me back.

Benjamin: This one — pick the call that you want to hear or the message you want to hear, tap it, listen to it, stop it, pause it, delete it — whatever you want to, right then. It was great.

Gruber: The two great apps on the iPhone are the phone app, which includes the call management, merging calls, that type of stuff and the voice mail — because the other cool thing about the voice mail is the way that when you want to set your greeting, you do it all on your iPhone, you don’t have to call into your account on AT&T and listen to a bunch of voice menus and click and record. You just click, there’s a big “Greeting” button at the top, you click “Greeting” and you can either choose between the default, which is to have the AT&T lady say, “This person you’ve called is not available, blah blah blah” or you say “Custom”. And when you say “Custom” then there’s a “Record” button. You hit “Record”, if you like it, you hit “Save” and that’s it. That’s your voice mail.

Benjamin: You can re-record it 10–20 times right there on your iPhone before it ever actually processes and uploads because you’re in control of that. Very, very cool stuff. And we were all talking earlier using the little headphones.

Gruber: Oh, I was actually on the phone itself. I’ve used the headphones, they’re great.

Benjamin: And the microphone is built right into the little plastic piece that you squeeze to control stopping or whatever and the funniest thing — Dan Cederholm said to me, he said, “Now people are going to think we’re all really crazy because now we’ll be just walking around with headphones on, white iPod headphones, talking.” And people are going to think we’re totally crazy because at least with the headsets that stick out of your ear, have the big flashing light on them —

Gruber: People are used to thinking that is somebody on the phone. Whereas this, you just look like an idiot with an iPod, talking to yourself. I should go back and say that iPod app is also a phenomenal app. The three apps — I should go back and say, there’s three absolutely, insanely good apps — the iPod app, the phone app, and Safari. I won’t list Mail in there yet, I think Mail needs a lot of help. You mentioned it, Duncan Davidson mentioned it, but to me the one thing that’s glaringly missing is a master inbox view where you get to see all new messages from all of your inboxes. Like on Apple Mail on Mac OS X, all of your inboxes, if you want to look at them one by one, they’re all within that one master inbox, but if you just click on that inbox, it shows you all of your incoming mail.

Benjamin: The fact that that’s missing, that kills me. It’s the one —

Gruber: We can fill up an hour with my complaints about the Mail app, and maybe we will later this week, I don’t really have time now.

Benjamin: Because this is just the supplementary podcast right now, this is not the podcast. My analogy was, if there was some kind of really big news item, we’d have to talk about it, and this is it, this isn’t our weekly podcast, this is a supplement.

Gruber: This is just a special edition. Hey, Jonas, you want to say hi to our podcast?

Jonas Gruber: [makes an indecipherable noise]

Gruber: This is our podcast, we’re talking to about 10 million people right now.

Benjamin: [laughs]

Gruber: You know, we’ve got so much good feedback from last week’s show, but there were a bunch of people griping about, and some people saying, “Hey, it’s great, sounded great, blah blah blah”, and then you get, I guess, the audiophiles who’ve complained about the audio quality, they’re really going to love my recorded in the PowerBook built-in microphone episode here.

Benjamin: I didn’t hear any complaints about the quality as much as the — some people would write in to say, maybe the pacing wasn’t good or whatever. So screw those people, I guess.

Gruber: Exactly. Lot of people complimenting us on the elaborate website design, too.

Benjamin: The website is actually — that is 100 percent me, that’s a really — I think we would make Tufte proud looking at that site because it’s only what’s actually needed.

Gruber: Right. No, I mean, you know — I think we’re probably going to have a nicer website at some point in the future. But I like the idea, and it’s very different from my typical way of working — we agreed to do this show more or less two weeks ago at WWDC. Craig Hockenberry, we were out having drinks after the Thursday night beer bash and Craig Hockenberry —

Benjamin: Incredibly tall.

Gruber: — more or less said what you’ve been saying to me for a while, which is, you and I should just do a little show every week. And I thought, you know, if it’s good enough for Craig Hockenberry, that’s good enough for me. And pretty much all we did, we said, okay, we’ll do it, we need a name, we took the most generic name we could think of, we spent an hour looking at domain names that were available. We clicked record, we recorded for 30 minutes, we needed a place to put it, we did the least we could possibly do and we put it up. Now, my typical way of working would’ve been to spend the next six months selecting a name and then, I don’t know, another eight or nine months going through about four or five different designs for the website and —

Benjamin: Each of which, the only noticeable difference in what you call the design is that the logo has shifted five pixels to the left or right.

Gruber: Right, right.

Benjamin: That’s a full redesign of Daring Fireball is that the logo is now five pixels to the right.

Gruber: Do you remember that time, the one time I redesigned daringfireball.net, I bugged you on AIM pretty much every 15 minutes for about two weeks.

Benjamin: Yeah, you’d say, “What will the ramifications of this redesign be?” and I would say, “How is this different from the other day?” You said, “I have a new Daring Fireball logo.” And I went to the site, and I thought, oh, maybe this is the bearskin rug t-shirt design up there, like, I don’t see anything different. “Dan, how can you not see it, there’s the whole new logo!” And I said, “What are you talking about?” Turns out, you had changed — instead of, like, “Mac nerd” it said “iPhone” or something, that was your redesign, under the logo, the logo text, the little 3-point text.

Gruber: But admittedly, that only took me about 30 seconds. But, you know. I’m kind of digging this “just click record for 30 minutes at a time and go”.

Benjamin: Well, hopefully the listeners will appreciate it too. We have a theme, we’re sticking to a theme.

Gruber: Yeah, definitely.

Benjamin: But you said you only had five — you gave me such a hard time, you said you only had five minutes, and now we’ve been talking for 30 minutes. This time we’re going to end it, because last time I had to try to figure out how to cut 10 minutes off. We’re trying to keep it to a 30-minute show, once a week. We did two times a week, that’s okay. But once a week, 30 minutes and I say we just end it. It’s almost 30 minutes, let’s just end it.

Gruber: All right, let’s do it again later this week.

Benjamin: We’re going to definitely do — and it will be a different topic though, it has to be something different. Maybe not even — because people are going to be sick of iPhones.

Gruber: That’s going to be old news by the end of the week.

Benjamin: Yeah, we’ll have to talk about something completely different. And so when do you come back from the shore, are you spending the 4th there?

Gruber: I don’t even know, nobody tells me. I’ll know it’s time to go when I wake up and my wife has our bags packed. I think later this week.

Benjamin: Well, good, have a great holiday.

Gruber: Yeah, you too.

[teesturtle]

Support your local economy drink more wine shirt

Support your local economy drink more wine shirt

Online shopping has a great variety of benefits, such as a large selection of accessible products, the opportunity to buy things which aren t offered nearby, and also the comfort of house delivery service. Sad to say, a few things aren t low-cost on the internet. The tips and tricks below will help you spend less on the things you acquire on the internet.

When shopping online, make sure that the web based retail store delivers protected take a look at. This will aid guard your personal information from simply being stolen. So that the site is encoded lookup into your internet browser s Link package. The internet site is attached if the site commences with https. This is short for hyper exchange process safe.

When looking for something on the web, spend some time to go through reviews. Attempt locating the very same merchandise on diverse web sites to read through several reviews as you can. Looking at a lot of evaluations will assist you to obtain a a lot more standard idea of whether the merchandise you are searching for satisfies substantial standards of top quality.

Study all product info just before choosing to get. Photographs on the web is often deceiving. Things could be photographed to check larger sized or greater that they actually are. Carefully browse the whole explanation to learn exactly what you would get.

If you appreciate a web-based store, join their e-mail circulation checklist. You will likely get some discount coupons and information about deals with your mail box. Check these email messages on a regular basis to remain up to date with great deals and promotional delivers. Most internet retailers typically offer you shipping and delivery or savings on particular goods.

If you are planning to be performing some shopping on the web, be sure you comprehend the liability for each and every charge card you utilize on the internet. Several credit cards have intelligent scam prevention integrated and some supply it for a little cost. You may not need to get saddled with buys manufactured on the cards when the quantity is taken.

Be suspicious of overdoing it. It is much simpler to overspend when you are online shopping. You begin to rationalize you could spend more money for people boots as you stored cash on gasoline as well as the foods you would probably have obtained when you visited the shopping center, for instance. Allow yourself a restriction and follow it.

Online shopping is a wonderful thing in it truly does place the entire world at your fingertips. It is necessary, however, to learn a number of tips and tricks just before hitting the key pad and paying a few bucks. By keeping these information and facts close up on hand, you are able to take full advantage of every little thing the internet market place offers.

Buy Men’s T-shirts Online from America’s Best Fashion Retail store Support your local economy drink more wine shirt. Internet shopping is starting to become popular, in part as a result of ease associated with the expertise. In the convenience of your living room, you could buy clothing, toys or almost any product or service you need. The following tips can help you next time you want to start your pc and make a buy. Make certain that when you buy something on the internet, you are aware of in case the site is safe or otherwise not. You do not want your information and facts getting compromised in nowadays. Id theft is pretty frequent, and you must shield your data in any way cost in order that you desire to always keep generating acquisitions on the internet. When browsing out the finest price for any huge ticket product, make sure you check the shop evaluations to ascertain if other clients possessed a very good knowledge of them. Also, it is a good idea to seek advice from the greater Business Bureau also. You would like to make certain that the business is genuine and principles you as being a consumer. When you shop on the web, use a credit card as opposed to a credit greeting card. The reason being credit cards are based on your credit score, not the amount of money with your checking account. If a world wide web hacker gets your consumer banking information and facts, they are able to fully destroy you inside an issue of time. You should under no conditions give a social stability quantity when coming up with an online acquire. No retail store requirements that details! When you notice which a website is asking for a Sociable Safety variety, the site probably isn’t legitimate. Click on away from that internet site, and search for a web site with excellent reputations. Shopping on the internet can help you help save a lot on your preferred items and avoid crowds of people. Go shopping inside your PJs if you want to! It’s hard to find anything much better than that! There are various stuff unique to shopping on the web, even so, that you’ll need to find out before beginning.

Support your local economy drink more wine shirt, Hoodie, V-Neck, Sweater, Longsleeve, Tank Top and Unisex, T-Shirt

Classic Ladies

Hoodie

Long Sleeve

Sweatshirt

Unisex

Buy Support your local economy drink more wine shirt

Shop the Latest Collection of T-Shirts for Men Online Support your local economy drink more wine shirt. Every single day, on the internet will grow in recognition. With a bit of direction and encounter, virtually everyone can hunt across the perfect piece they need and locate a whole lot upon it using the web. In this article, you can grab greater than a couple of outstanding suggestions that will make you in a wiser, much better on the web shopper. Prior to making an investment, compare prices on numerous internet sites. Search for special coupons while offering on these web sites to successfully are receiving the best bargain probable. Also explore what it really will surely cost for the transport in your items and if you can find free freight options available to you. If you locate a great item on the favorite website, search for it in an internet search engine before you buy it. Make notice from the version number or brand name, and perform a speedy look for to successfully can’t obtain it cheaper from someplace else. You could possibly conserve some amount of money this way. Find out more about the payment methods provided by the online store you are looking at. Most stores give you the method to pay with a credit card or with PayPal. A credit card can be a harmless alternative only if the store includes a protect hosting server. If you do not see any information regarding security, it is recommended to experience some other retailer. You should think of investing in a pre-paid credit card and launching it when you intend to make purchases. This should help you stay away from debit or credit history credit accounts which may have a huge stability. When someone gets the pre-paid card information and facts, you will find practically nothing around the card so they can acquire. In conclusion, many people have usually utilized the web to search points up or to speak with friends. Store shopping has turned into a most popular explanation to visit on the web. Using the ideas previously mentioned, you will get the most from internet shopping, whether it’s one thing you have done many times well before or something that is you might do the first time.

The post Support your local economy drink more wine shirt appeared first on Teesturtle - Store Funny, Trending T-Shirt.

source https://teesturtle.com/product/support-your-local-economy-drink-more-wine-shirt/

[likelyfadblog]

15 Best Rainmeter Skins to make your Desktop new Again [2018]

Rainmeter is a lightweight application to theme your desktop and explore many new features. Though Windows is fairly customizable on its own, this Software can take desktop theming to the next level, and today we will discuss some of the Best Rainmeter Skins available out there (May 2018).

Now, we know there are almost same themes on every webpage you go, but here we made sure that you will see some pretty amazing stuff, that no one ever showed, and we will keep exploring and will update when we will find something new and better.

Also, we tested these skins first and then placed it accordingly on our list.

Best Rainmeter Skins

Another thing about these themes, they are easy to download, and we gave direct links to download, you can just click the Download Button and it will take you to the download page.

1) Minimal

As the name suggests this is a minimal skin, with a beautiful look and features. The wallpaper you see above is included in the theme pack. So, what you have to do is just apply the theme and change the wallpaper and you are done!

After installing the theme you can find the wallpaper here Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\Simple\minimal wall.jpg

Download Minimal Rainmeter Skin

2) Spirit

A classic card themed skin with all the basic things you need like, Email, Dropbox, Chrome, Notes, Stats and more. Also, this theme sets up with every wallpaper you apply. This card design is also trending nowadays.

Download Sprit Rainmeter Skin

3) Mystic VR1.1

This is a theme for the people who love Owls, this theme has a beautiful design and features, plus it supports 8 languages and can display most important things like Weather, HDD, Music Player and Much More right on your home screen.

Download Mystic VR1.1 Rainmeter Skin

4) Comic Clock

This is one of the Best Rainmeter Skin out there. It’s not fancy or minimal but it will surely give your desktop a great and funny look. It’s not a whole theme pack, it’s just a clock, and if you like the wallpaper you can get that here.

Download Comic Clock Rainmeter Skin

5) Papyros

Now, who don’t love the Google’s Material Design and the Material Colors and if you do, then this theme is for you, this theme has some basic elements Material Designed like Google Search, Basic Info, Current Music, Weather, File Manager, and Secret Notes!

I personally used this theme for a long time, and I found it amazing.

Download Papyros Rainmeter Skin

6) Newspaper

This theme will turn your desktop into an old Newspaper. along with that, this theme has a lot of features too, check out!

You can Set up 4 RSS feeds on your desktop

You can Set up 14 desktop launchers

Mailbox skin (for Gmail only)

Weather skin

Working pocket watch and a cigarette that burns with time

notepad pop-up (on the left, above Uncle Sam) and a system stats pop-up

Download Newspaper Rainmeter Skin

7) Shield OS

Perfect theme for an Avengers Fan, This theme is beautifully designed to mimic the interface of Shield Computers from the Avengers movie. This theme can be easily customized and can change colors too.

Check out the list of features

Clock – Intricate clock design as well as the actual number version for clear understanding

Program Launchers – 6 small and 6 big launchers for opening programs/folders etc…

Web Launchers – 6 text-based launchers for opening web pages

CPU Monitor – Support for 1-4 Cores. The monitor is designed to be more visually appealing then functional so the accuracy of the actual levels is off. I plan on fixing this in the next update

Ram Monitor – Shows Ram used percentage

HDD Monitor – The outer ring on the clock skin displaying your HDD used space Date – Date, month and day

Music Player – Can open your music player directly from the skin. Playback buttons, progress, player volume control and album artwork all incorporated

Shutdown Buttons – Buttons to shutdown, restart and log off

Recycling Bin – Opens the recycling bin. Also shows a current deleted item count

Volume Control – Adjust the system volume

Options menu – Easily edit launcher names, paths, and icons

So, Download this awesome Rainmeter Skin from the link below

Download Shield OS Rainmeter Skin

8) Crypto Ticker

Interested in cryptocurrencies? but tired of opening your phone or webpage to check the prices? then this skin will help you a lot, this skin will show you the exact prices of the trending cryptocurrencies on your desktop. Also, it comes in two designs a semi-transparent background, and a fully transparent one, so it’s your choice, which one you want to choose.

Download Crypto Ticker Rainmeter Skin

9) Crypto Wallet Monitor

After you buy Crypto Currencies you need a wallet to manage those, this Rainmeter skin allows you to monitor the money in your crypto wallet. Currently, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple are supported.

Download Crypto Wallet Monitor Rainmeter Skin

10) Ironman and Jarvis Theme

This skin is for Ironman and Marvel Lovers, everything is themed as Jarvis UI in ironman which looks very cool to have, also this theme has tons of features like

4 predefined colors (Red, Green Yellow, Blue)

System usage info CPU, RAM, and swap)

Weather Now and 4 days to come (°C or °F)

Audio visualizer (color changing)(right click over it to see customization options)

iTunes and Spotify music player with music controls, artwork, spinning vinyl, song info, etc

Date and Time

IP and Network info

Battery level for laptops

Recycle bin info (# of items and size of all the items)

Hard drive info

Notes section

Folders, apps and websites shortcuts

This skin is super customization and easy to use, download the theme below

Download Ironman Jarvis Rainmeter Skin

11)Aliens

This is a cool Rainmeter Skin for a Tech lover who wants every information displayed on his desktop, this theme covers almost every info including RAM, ROM, CPU temperature and much more.

Also, customizing this theme is also very easy, and the wallpaper is included in the theme itself.

Download Ironman Jarvis Rainmeter Skin

12) Realistic Mac OSX

Love Apple Notebooks but can’t afford one? then this theme is for you. This skin is the closest to what you can get on a Mac, though this is not perfect, but its the closest one, you have to install ‘ObjectDock’ to complete this theme. You can get all of the files from the link below.

Download Realistic Mac OS X Rainmeter Skin

13) Batman

After that awesome Ironman theme, here is a theme of a guy who “Bought the Bank” the one and only Batman. This theme features some cool icons and weather skins. Though the clock is my favorite thing. Though you get the wallpaper used above in the skin file, but if you cant find it, Here it is.

Download Batman Rainmeter Skin

14) Battlefield 3

Now, this is something for gamers, though this is no actually 1 skin, but its a set of the skins, using specific items of those skins. The end result you can see is terrific! This skin will be loved by all the Battlefield fans here.

Battlefield 3 Rainmeter Skin

15) Pirate

This good looking theme is probably one of the best Rainmeter Theme, as this looks good with any wallpaper you got. Also, it supports 8 languages and can display most important things like Weather, HDD, Music Player and Much More right on your home screen.

Pirate Rainmeter Skin

So, these were 10 Best Rainmeter Skins of 2018, do let us know if you like it via comments below. Also, we will regularly update the article to get you more great skins, and features!

To get that Subscribe to likelyfad by clicking the bell icon on the bottom right.

That’s it for now. If you liked this post, share it with your friends and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to LikelyFad to receive all the latest updates about Tech and Entertainment in your Inbox. If you want our content to get delivered to your mobile as soon we post, Text us on 7011469316, our official Business Number.

Here you will get the latest news, tailored for you, and personal assistance for your problem related to Technology.

Have a Nice Day.

The post 15 Best Rainmeter Skins to make your Desktop new Again [2018] appeared first on LikelyFad.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2JfP2kN via IFTTT

[timmynthnblg]

Do you have a house repair business? Are you thinking of starting a blog or perhaps creating a Facebook page but they have no idea how to start? Having a occurrence on the Internet is a sensible way to gain new clients and update existing ones about your business. The hard part is undoubtedly finding what you should post many potential customers might actually want to go through. Even harder than that, is coming up with new ways to post day after day. One way to treat this problem is usually to come up with a system for rendering relevant content. Here at Era 3 Electric power in Philadelphia, we created a wipe-off board to hold on the wall membrane and help all of us through this problem. We call it? The Idea Engine.? On one part of the mother board, there are locations from which we can draw concepts, such as technician stories, You Tube, get togethers and merchandise demonstrations and stories regarding jobs. On the other hand of the panel is a set of places to post that content material. Most of our content keeps growing our blog initially, and then this gets connected onto each of our Facebook web page and finally gets tweeted. Below are a few ideas of exactly where to find happy to post about your company: TECH STORIES. Inside our weekly specialist meetings, we talk about the various jobs all of us? re at the moment working on or have just done up. Occasionally our movement will inform a story that may be interesting, cheeky or beneficial. We encourage them to take photos with their camera phone, or perhaps videos of 1 another accomplishing interesting jobs. These photos/videos are fabulous content that your customers will consider at quickly, without having to reading too much (include a brief explanation of each impression you post). Your customers could laugh, refer or even content a review in response on your story. In case your techs did not remember to take photos, you can content a created version; bare in mind to keep it short and interesting/funny/informative. SEARCH YOU TUBE. The online world is full of fun things to look at. When the cell phones are poor, I tend to carry on You Pipe and seek out content i find relates to the business I really do and that my clients could enjoy enjoying. After you get the content, just click the show button to publish to Facebook/Twitter or trim and stick the HTML CODE into your web log. Last week I just posted a great documentary about Nikola Tesla, a leader of modern electrical theory. I will often seek out videos about electricity or Philadelphia, so that the content is not hard to relate with by each of our local clients. DO A JOKE SEARCH. Do? t have your blog or perhaps Facebook page too very seriously. Sometimes it is just simply fun to look up a joke that connects into your organization. For example, Q: What does the light light say to the generator? A:? I really obtain a charge away of you!? OK, that is corny, although no one really wants to read a blog that looks like a great instruction manual. TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS OF YOUR VENDORS. We all bring different vendors into our each week meetings to train our consultants how to promote their new items. This is also the best way to get content for your site or Facebook or myspace page. Suppliers love to explain information and once you post their information, it? s i9000 like no cost advertising. Appropriately, this information may also be useful for the clients. In fact, an informed customer won? to need the hard sell; they will research the products and really know what they want to obtain you. SLICE AND COMPOSITE FREE ARTICLES OR BLOG POSTS. Look up no cost articles on the search engines and you will find a list of websites that contain hundreds. Many freelance writers and businesses provide articles for you to use for free. They compose these articles hoping that a tumblr like you definitely will repost these people and include the link back to your site and keywords and phrases that will help them enhance their own world wide web ranking. ANSWER COMMON QUESTIONS. Search the internet for issue and answer discussion boards, especially if they are native. As you read through them, look for questions associated with your discipline of expertise you happen to be qualified to reply to. If the same inquiries keep coming up, you know it ought to be a topic over a lot of people? s thoughts. After you have founded something that lots of people have queries about, post it in your blog along with your answer. CHECK THE CALENDAR. There are tons of odd little holidays out there. Stage them to be able to your customers! Hope people a Happy Doctor? s i9000 Day or perhaps remind them to turn their clocks back in the get. Was today Elvis? s i9000 birthday? You have to do know that Elvis was an electrician, right? People consume this stuff up. The best way Over the internet to come up with content to post is to write all this down and make that systematic. I actually walk up to my own idea engine in the morning (conveniently located on the method into the office), and think about which of your? idea newbies? best fits my own mood. We have become always looking for more ways to bring content to companies. If you have other ideas, make sure you post all of them on Era 3 Electric powered? s Facebook game page. Read more: hessenslam-2016.de

Source:http://alivecanada.com/blogging-and-writing-a-comment-for-the-home-mend-6/

from Brian Greathouse Alive Canada https://briangreathousealivecanada.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/blogging-and-writing-a-comment-for-the-home-mend-business/

[alivecanada]

Blogging And Writing a comment For The Home Mend Business

Do you have a house repair business? Are you thinking of starting a blog or perhaps creating a Facebook page but they have no idea how to start? Having a occurrence on the Internet is a sensible way to gain new clients and update existing ones about your business. The hard part is undoubtedly finding what you should post many potential customers might actually want to go through. Even harder than that, is coming up with new ways to post day after day. One way to treat this problem is usually to come up with a system for rendering relevant content. Here at Era 3 Electric power in Philadelphia, we created a wipe-off board to hold on the wall membrane and help all of us through this problem. We call it? The Idea Engine.? On one part of the mother board, there are locations from which we can draw concepts, such as technician stories, You Tube, get togethers and merchandise demonstrations and stories regarding jobs. On the other hand of the panel is a set of places to post that content material. Most of our content keeps growing our blog initially, and then this gets connected onto each of our Facebook web page and finally gets tweeted. Below are a few ideas of exactly where to find happy to post about your company: TECH STORIES. Inside our weekly specialist meetings, we talk about the various jobs all of us? re at the moment working on or have just done up. Occasionally our movement will inform a story that may be interesting, cheeky or beneficial. We encourage them to take photos with their camera phone, or perhaps videos of 1 another accomplishing interesting jobs. These photos/videos are fabulous content that your customers will consider at quickly, without having to reading too much (include a brief explanation of each impression you post). Your customers could laugh, refer or even content a review in response on your story. In case your techs did not remember to take photos, you can content a created version; bare in mind to keep it short and interesting/funny/informative. SEARCH YOU TUBE. The online world is full of fun things to look at. When the cell phones are poor, I tend to carry on You Pipe and seek out content i find relates to the business I really do and that my clients could enjoy enjoying. After you get the content, just click the show button to publish to Facebook/Twitter or trim and stick the HTML CODE into your web log. Last week I just posted a great documentary about Nikola Tesla, a leader of modern electrical theory. I will often seek out videos about electricity or Philadelphia, so that the content is not hard to relate with by each of our local clients. DO A JOKE SEARCH. Do? t have your blog or perhaps Facebook page too very seriously. Sometimes it is just simply fun to look up a joke that connects into your organization. For example, Q: What does the light light say to the generator? A:? I really obtain a charge away of you!? OK, that is corny, although no one really wants to read a blog that looks like a great instruction manual. TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS OF YOUR VENDORS. We all bring different vendors into our each week meetings to train our consultants how to promote their new items. This is also the best way to get content for your site or Facebook or myspace page. Suppliers love to explain information and once you post their information, it? s i9000 like no cost advertising. Appropriately, this information may also be useful for the clients. In fact, an informed customer won? to need the hard sell; they will research the products and really know what they want to obtain you. SLICE AND COMPOSITE FREE ARTICLES OR BLOG POSTS. Look up no cost articles on the search engines and you will find a list of websites that contain hundreds. Many freelance writers and businesses provide articles for you to use for free. They compose these articles hoping that a tumblr like you definitely will repost these people and include the link back to your site and keywords and phrases that will help them enhance their own world wide web ranking. ANSWER COMMON QUESTIONS. Search the internet for issue and answer discussion boards, especially if they are native. As you read through them, look for questions associated with your discipline of expertise you happen to be qualified to reply to. If the same inquiries keep coming up, you know it ought to be a topic over a lot of people? s thoughts. After you have founded something that lots of people have queries about, post it in your blog along with your answer. CHECK THE CALENDAR. There are tons of odd little holidays out there. Stage them to be able to your customers! Hope people a Happy Doctor? s i9000 Day or perhaps remind them to turn their clocks back in the get. Was today Elvis? s i9000 birthday? You have to do know that Elvis was an electrician, right? People consume this stuff up. The best way Over the internet to come up with content to post is to write all this down and make that systematic. I actually walk up to my own idea engine in the morning (conveniently located on the method into the office), and think about which of your? idea newbies? best fits my own mood. We have become always looking for more ways to bring content to companies. If you have other ideas, make sure you post all of them on Era 3 Electric powered? s Facebook game page. Read more: hessenslam-2016.de

from Brian Greathouse Alive Canada http://alivecanada.com/blogging-and-writing-a-comment-for-the-home-mend-6/

[allenmelendez]

Web Design Mistakes

Introduction

Web design is complex enough as it is. You have to worry about mobile accessibility, design aesthetics, user friendliness, SEO, and so much more. But when you consider just how many mistakes one could make and how dearly those mistakes could cost the owner of the website… well, it’s frankly just mind blowing!

The fact is, if you focus too much on any one element of web design, the other elements are going to suffer. You can’t allow that to happen. It’s important to be sure you’re covering all the bases if you want to have a website that is effective at getting traffic and getting conversions.

In this guide, you’re going to learn about some of the most common mistakes web designers make, and how you can avoid making them on your own websites.

Remember, it’s not all about SEO, or it’s not all about looking pretty… there are many factors that work together in unison to make the perfect website. And if you neglect one aspect, your site isn’t going to get the results you’re hoping for.

So let’s begin.

Mistake #1

Overuse Of Animations and Flash

Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s, the use of animation and flash on websites was common. It was a way to jazz up websites and draw attention.

Unfortunately, these tactics got overused and eventually became completely passé. Now, their use is a glaring signal that the person who made the website had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Flash and animated images have their place. For example, those websites that post funny images might use animated GIFs to get a laugh where a static image just might not work. Or Flash might be used on a free web-based gaming website.

But if you’re using a ton of Flash banners or menus, or if you’re using animation in your logo or to draw attention to certain areas of your website, you’re being lazy AND annoying your visitors. Stop it!

Use such tactics very judiciously, and only when necessary. Otherwise, you’re just making your site run more slowly and getting on your visitors’ nerves.

Mistake #2

Poorly Chosen Colors

Another huge mistake people make when designing for the web is choosing colors that don’t work together or that severely clash and look terrible together. This could end up frustrating visitors to the point that they leave your site. At the very least, this could hurt conversions.

Not only should you choose colors that are aesthetically pleasing, but you should be careful to use colors that work psychologically with your website’s theme. Believe it or not, colors can actually have specific effects on the human brain.

For example, McDonald’s has always used the color red in their restaurants because the color can make people feel hungrier. This causes them to order more food than they really ought to, because they think they are hungrier than they actually are.

If you want to learn more about how colors work psychologically, you can check out this article:

>> http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233843

Mistake #3

Improper Font Use Fonts

They can make or break a design, and unfortunately most people just go overboard with fonts, or they use the wrong ones.

Some designers actually become semi-obsessed with fonts. They may have thousands of fonts on their system (which is a bad idea in itself, because the more fonts you have, the slower your system runs) and they may want to use as many of those fonts as they can in every design they create.

Every font you use should have a specific purpose. Don’t use something like a cursive font or (heaven forbid) Comic Sans for the body text on your site. Not only is this not a good look aesthetically, but it also makes it harder to read the text. Use easy-to-read fonts like Helvetica, Arial, or Verdana.

You can get a little more creative when it comes to your logo and headlines, but you should still make sure that:

The fonts are easy to read, AND…

The fonts work for your niche. (For example, don’t use fancy script fonts on a masculine website, or huge, garish fonts on a feminine one.)

Mistake #4

Failure to Implement SEO

Every single website on the planet (except maybe those that are set up specifically to be private, which can be blocked with a password or robots.txt) needs search engine traffic. Otherwise, why even be online in the first place?

But unfortunately, a lot of web designers focus too much on the way a site looks and they forget to make sure the site is capable of getting traffic! (The prettiest website in the world isn’t going to do you a bit of good if no one ever sees it!)

Yes, your site should be attractive. And yes, your site should be user friendly. But you can’t forget to ensure that search engines can properly find and index your content. This requires using proper silo structure and making sure your navigation links are easy for search engines to find.

Here is some information on the silo structure:

>> http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm

Mistake #5

Failing to Make the Site Mobile Friendly

Let’s face it. Mobile is the wave of the future. Up to 90% of a given website’s traffic may be mobile these days, and that number is still rising. The personal computer is actually losing ground rapidly.

Most people use computers for things like writing documents and for working, but when it comes to browsing, more and more people are using tablets and smart phones, because they can be used anywhere.

Plus, as of April 2015, mobile friendliness is one of the factors Google uses to determine rankings. If your site is not mobile friendly, your rankings are likely to plummet unless all your other ranking factors are just phenomenal.

If you’re using WordPress, you can make your site mobile friendly by simply choosing a mobile friendly (also known as responsive) theme. If you’re building your own website, you will need to detect user agent in order to find out what system a visitor is using, and then direct those users to a mobile version of your website. This requires making different versions of your site for different platforms.

You can analyze your mobile friendliness here:

>> https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Mistake #6

Using Audio or Auto-Play Videos

Nothing is more irritating about the average website than being startled by loud audio that you weren’t expecting. This is especially true if it happens at an inopportune moment, such as when you’re surfing inconspicuously at work and it’s not break time, or if your kid is asleep and it wakes him up, or if you’re browsing somewhere you shouldn’t be (like, say, church or at a funeral – oops.)

Unless you have a very good reason for doing so, never automatically play audio or video on your website. Polls have shown that if a user is hit with audio or video that plays automatically, it drastically increases the chances that they will immediately leave. (This increases what is known as bounce rate, and if your bounce rate is too high, it can adversely effect your search engine rankings.)

The only time you should maybe set something to automatically play is when it is the primary focus of your page. For example, a video sales page or squeeze page might require auto-play.

Otherwise, make it so that users have to manually activate audio or video. Your users will thank you!

Mistake #7

Bad Navigation

Navigation is one of the most critical elements of any web design. If a user cannot find what they are looking for quickly, they are likely to leave just as quickly.

There are several locations for navigation options on any website. Here are a few places you can squeeze in the navigation you need:

Above the logo – This is a good place to have links to important pages like privacy pages and contact pages.

Below the logo – This is traditionally where you can find important links to articles and other content.

Sidebar – Your sidebar is another good place to locate stuff like article categories and pages.

Footer – More links can be placed in your footer, and this is a good place to include links to pages if you haven’t located those links above the logo.

You also want to be sure your site has search functionality if you have a large amount of content. Otherwise, it becomes nearly impossible for people to find the exact content they are looking for.

Mistake #8

Requiring Software Installations

Years ago, it was common to need to download a piece of software in order to use a particular website. Things like Real Player and various web cam programs required downloads to run, because their functionality wasn’t built in to browsers.

These days, with so many viruses going around that can steal your personal information or destroy your computer, people are wary of installing anything. If you require a download in order to use a function of your site, people are most likely just going to leave.

If you need functionality that you can’t get from standard HTML or CSS, consider using something like HTML5 or other standard formats. If it requires something that most people don’t have, you’re going to lose a whole lot of traffic.

You could also use Java or JavaScript, which most browsers can use natively these days.

You can read more about HTML5 here:

>> http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_intro.asp

Mistake #9

Improper Optimization

One of the biggest factors in SEO today is the speed at which your site loads. If your site is slow, you’re going to rank lower than a site that is speedier if all other factors are the same, simply because Google and other search engines understand that people are impatient and will quickly get bored and leave if a site takes too long to load.

The most important things to optimize are:

Images

Videos

Text itself doesn’t take long to load. It’s the images and videos on a website that can take a very long time to load. If you’re including photos in a blog post, for example, they don’t need to be massive in size unless they enlarge to show important details (like infographics, for example.)

Images should generally be about 400-1000 pixels at most, and no more than about 75k. Videos should be optimized for the smallest size possible without sacrificing quality. HD videos are great, but they take a while to load, and this could hurt your search rankings, especially if your videos are set to load and play automatically. They’ll just slow down the rest of your site.

Mistake #10

No Contact Information

Lack of contact information is a red flag for a lot of people, and it’s a red flag to Google. Sure, legitimate websites may not have contact information, but spammers almost never put contact information on their websites. If you have a contact page, people will trust you more.

Here are some reasons you might want to include contact information on your website:

It’s a ranking signal for Google. Google loves to see contact information on your website, because it makes the site look more legitimate. Spammers definitely don’t want to be contacted.

Users will trust your site more if they see you’re being open and allowing people to contact you.

You could get important messages from potential advertisers who want to give you money to advertise on your site.

It could save you from legal issues if someone can contact you to resolve potential issues instead of having to subpoena your information and potentially sue you because they couldn’t contact you to ask you to remove something you inadvertently used on your site, for example.

Conclusion

Web design is already a technical task. You have to learn how to use many different types of software, how to use scripts or program HTML or CSS, how to design graphics… it’s a lot of work and a lot of knowledge required.

But even the most experienced designers often lose sight of the big picture when it comes to building websites. They may focus too much on aesthetics that usability suffers, or vice versa. Or they may focus too much on SEO and not enough on user experience, or the other way around.

It’s important to be sure you’re looking at all potential aspects of design, and not focusing too much time and attention on any one factor. A harmonious design takes all factors into account equally in order to ensure the site is friendly to both users and search engines.

You might want to create a checklist with web design best practices that you should keep in mind every time you build a new site. This way you can be sure you’ve followed every step each time.

Good luck with your website!

from Anthony Aires http://anthonyaires.com/4803/web-design-mistakes/ from Anthony Aires https://anthonyairescom.tumblr.com/post/161042054970

[jenarodriguez]

Web Design Mistakes

Introduction

Web design is complex enough as it is. You have to worry about mobile accessibility, design aesthetics, user friendliness, SEO, and so much more. But when you consider just how many mistakes one could make and how dearly those mistakes could cost the owner of the website… well, it’s frankly just mind blowing!

The fact is, if you focus too much on any one element of web design, the other elements are going to suffer. You can’t allow that to happen. It’s important to be sure you’re covering all the bases if you want to have a website that is effective at getting traffic and getting conversions.

In this guide, you’re going to learn about some of the most common mistakes web designers make, and how you can avoid making them on your own websites.

Remember, it’s not all about SEO, or it’s not all about looking pretty… there are many factors that work together in unison to make the perfect website. And if you neglect one aspect, your site isn’t going to get the results you’re hoping for.

So let’s begin.

Mistake #1

Overuse Of Animations and Flash

Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s, the use of animation and flash on websites was common. It was a way to jazz up websites and draw attention.

Unfortunately, these tactics got overused and eventually became completely passé. Now, their use is a glaring signal that the person who made the website had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Flash and animated images have their place. For example, those websites that post funny images might use animated GIFs to get a laugh where a static image just might not work. Or Flash might be used on a free web-based gaming website.

But if you’re using a ton of Flash banners or menus, or if you’re using animation in your logo or to draw attention to certain areas of your website, you’re being lazy AND annoying your visitors. Stop it!

Use such tactics very judiciously, and only when necessary. Otherwise, you’re just making your site run more slowly and getting on your visitors’ nerves.

Mistake #2

Poorly Chosen Colors

Another huge mistake people make when designing for the web is choosing colors that don’t work together or that severely clash and look terrible together. This could end up frustrating visitors to the point that they leave your site. At the very least, this could hurt conversions.

Not only should you choose colors that are aesthetically pleasing, but you should be careful to use colors that work psychologically with your website’s theme. Believe it or not, colors can actually have specific effects on the human brain.

For example, McDonald’s has always used the color red in their restaurants because the color can make people feel hungrier. This causes them to order more food than they really ought to, because they think they are hungrier than they actually are.

If you want to learn more about how colors work psychologically, you can check out this article:

>> http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233843

Mistake #3

Improper Font Use Fonts

They can make or break a design, and unfortunately most people just go overboard with fonts, or they use the wrong ones.

Some designers actually become semi-obsessed with fonts. They may have thousands of fonts on their system (which is a bad idea in itself, because the more fonts you have, the slower your system runs) and they may want to use as many of those fonts as they can in every design they create.

Every font you use should have a specific purpose. Don’t use something like a cursive font or (heaven forbid) Comic Sans for the body text on your site. Not only is this not a good look aesthetically, but it also makes it harder to read the text. Use easy-to-read fonts like Helvetica, Arial, or Verdana.

You can get a little more creative when it comes to your logo and headlines, but you should still make sure that:

The fonts are easy to read, AND…

The fonts work for your niche. (For example, don’t use fancy script fonts on a masculine website, or huge, garish fonts on a feminine one.)

Mistake #4

Failure to Implement SEO

Every single website on the planet (except maybe those that are set up specifically to be private, which can be blocked with a password or robots.txt) needs search engine traffic. Otherwise, why even be online in the first place?

But unfortunately, a lot of web designers focus too much on the way a site looks and they forget to make sure the site is capable of getting traffic! (The prettiest website in the world isn’t going to do you a bit of good if no one ever sees it!)

Yes, your site should be attractive. And yes, your site should be user friendly. But you can’t forget to ensure that search engines can properly find and index your content. This requires using proper silo structure and making sure your navigation links are easy for search engines to find.

Here is some information on the silo structure:

>> http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm

Mistake #5

Failing to Make the Site Mobile Friendly

Let’s face it. Mobile is the wave of the future. Up to 90% of a given website’s traffic may be mobile these days, and that number is still rising. The personal computer is actually losing ground rapidly.

Most people use computers for things like writing documents and for working, but when it comes to browsing, more and more people are using tablets and smart phones, because they can be used anywhere.

Plus, as of April 2015, mobile friendliness is one of the factors Google uses to determine rankings. If your site is not mobile friendly, your rankings are likely to plummet unless all your other ranking factors are just phenomenal.

If you’re using WordPress, you can make your site mobile friendly by simply choosing a mobile friendly (also known as responsive) theme. If you’re building your own website, you will need to detect user agent in order to find out what system a visitor is using, and then direct those users to a mobile version of your website. This requires making different versions of your site for different platforms.

You can analyze your mobile friendliness here:

>> https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Mistake #6

Using Audio or Auto-Play Videos

Nothing is more irritating about the average website than being startled by loud audio that you weren’t expecting. This is especially true if it happens at an inopportune moment, such as when you’re surfing inconspicuously at work and it’s not break time, or if your kid is asleep and it wakes him up, or if you’re browsing somewhere you shouldn’t be (like, say, church or at a funeral – oops.)

Unless you have a very good reason for doing so, never automatically play audio or video on your website. Polls have shown that if a user is hit with audio or video that plays automatically, it drastically increases the chances that they will immediately leave. (This increases what is known as bounce rate, and if your bounce rate is too high, it can adversely effect your search engine rankings.)

The only time you should maybe set something to automatically play is when it is the primary focus of your page. For example, a video sales page or squeeze page might require auto-play.

Otherwise, make it so that users have to manually activate audio or video. Your users will thank you!

Mistake #7

Bad Navigation

Navigation is one of the most critical elements of any web design. If a user cannot find what they are looking for quickly, they are likely to leave just as quickly.

There are several locations for navigation options on any website. Here are a few places you can squeeze in the navigation you need:

Above the logo – This is a good place to have links to important pages like privacy pages and contact pages.

Below the logo – This is traditionally where you can find important links to articles and other content.

Sidebar – Your sidebar is another good place to locate stuff like article categories and pages.

Footer – More links can be placed in your footer, and this is a good place to include links to pages if you haven’t located those links above the logo.

You also want to be sure your site has search functionality if you have a large amount of content. Otherwise, it becomes nearly impossible for people to find the exact content they are looking for.

Mistake #8

Requiring Software Installations

Years ago, it was common to need to download a piece of software in order to use a particular website. Things like Real Player and various web cam programs required downloads to run, because their functionality wasn’t built in to browsers.

These days, with so many viruses going around that can steal your personal information or destroy your computer, people are wary of installing anything. If you require a download in order to use a function of your site, people are most likely just going to leave.

If you need functionality that you can’t get from standard HTML or CSS, consider using something like HTML5 or other standard formats. If it requires something that most people don’t have, you’re going to lose a whole lot of traffic.

You could also use Java or JavaScript, which most browsers can use natively these days.

You can read more about HTML5 here:

>> http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_intro.asp

Mistake #9

Improper Optimization

One of the biggest factors in SEO today is the speed at which your site loads. If your site is slow, you’re going to rank lower than a site that is speedier if all other factors are the same, simply because Google and other search engines understand that people are impatient and will quickly get bored and leave if a site takes too long to load.

The most important things to optimize are:

Images

Videos

Text itself doesn’t take long to load. It’s the images and videos on a website that can take a very long time to load. If you’re including photos in a blog post, for example, they don’t need to be massive in size unless they enlarge to show important details (like infographics, for example.)

Images should generally be about 400-1000 pixels at most, and no more than about 75k. Videos should be optimized for the smallest size possible without sacrificing quality. HD videos are great, but they take a while to load, and this could hurt your search rankings, especially if your videos are set to load and play automatically. They’ll just slow down the rest of your site.

Mistake #10

No Contact Information

Lack of contact information is a red flag for a lot of people, and it’s a red flag to Google. Sure, legitimate websites may not have contact information, but spammers almost never put contact information on their websites. If you have a contact page, people will trust you more.

Here are some reasons you might want to include contact information on your website:

It’s a ranking signal for Google. Google loves to see contact information on your website, because it makes the site look more legitimate. Spammers definitely don’t want to be contacted.

Users will trust your site more if they see you’re being open and allowing people to contact you.

You could get important messages from potential advertisers who want to give you money to advertise on your site.

It could save you from legal issues if someone can contact you to resolve potential issues instead of having to subpoena your information and potentially sue you because they couldn’t contact you to ask you to remove something you inadvertently used on your site, for example.

Conclusion

Web design is already a technical task. You have to learn how to use many different types of software, how to use scripts or program HTML or CSS, how to design graphics… it’s a lot of work and a lot of knowledge required.

But even the most experienced designers often lose sight of the big picture when it comes to building websites. They may focus too much on aesthetics that usability suffers, or vice versa. Or they may focus too much on SEO and not enough on user experience, or the other way around.

It’s important to be sure you’re looking at all potential aspects of design, and not focusing too much time and attention on any one factor. A harmonious design takes all factors into account equally in order to ensure the site is friendly to both users and search engines.

You might want to create a checklist with web design best practices that you should keep in mind every time you build a new site. This way you can be sure you’ve followed every step each time.

Good luck with your website!

source http://anthonyaires.com/4803/web-design-mistakes/ from Anthony Aires http://anthonyairescom.blogspot.com/2017/05/web-design-mistakes.html

[anthonyairescom]

Web Design Mistakes

Introduction

Web design is complex enough as it is. You have to worry about mobile accessibility, design aesthetics, user friendliness, SEO, and so much more. But when you consider just how many mistakes one could make and how dearly those mistakes could cost the owner of the website… well, it’s frankly just mind blowing!

The fact is, if you focus too much on any one element of web design, the other elements are going to suffer. You can’t allow that to happen. It’s important to be sure you’re covering all the bases if you want to have a website that is effective at getting traffic and getting conversions.

In this guide, you’re going to learn about some of the most common mistakes web designers make, and how you can avoid making them on your own websites.

Remember, it’s not all about SEO, or it’s not all about looking pretty… there are many factors that work together in unison to make the perfect website. And if you neglect one aspect, your site isn’t going to get the results you’re hoping for.

So let’s begin.

Mistake #1

Overuse Of Animations and Flash

Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s, the use of animation and flash on websites was common. It was a way to jazz up websites and draw attention.

Unfortunately, these tactics got overused and eventually became completely passé. Now, their use is a glaring signal that the person who made the website had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Flash and animated images have their place. For example, those websites that post funny images might use animated GIFs to get a laugh where a static image just might not work. Or Flash might be used on a free web-based gaming website.

But if you’re using a ton of Flash banners or menus, or if you’re using animation in your logo or to draw attention to certain areas of your website, you’re being lazy AND annoying your visitors. Stop it!

Use such tactics very judiciously, and only when necessary. Otherwise, you’re just making your site run more slowly and getting on your visitors’ nerves.

Mistake #2

Poorly Chosen Colors

Another huge mistake people make when designing for the web is choosing colors that don’t work together or that severely clash and look terrible together. This could end up frustrating visitors to the point that they leave your site. At the very least, this could hurt conversions.

Not only should you choose colors that are aesthetically pleasing, but you should be careful to use colors that work psychologically with your website’s theme. Believe it or not, colors can actually have specific effects on the human brain.

For example, McDonald’s has always used the color red in their restaurants because the color can make people feel hungrier. This causes them to order more food than they really ought to, because they think they are hungrier than they actually are.

If you want to learn more about how colors work psychologically, you can check out this article:

>> http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233843

Mistake #3

Improper Font Use Fonts

They can make or break a design, and unfortunately most people just go overboard with fonts, or they use the wrong ones.

Some designers actually become semi-obsessed with fonts. They may have thousands of fonts on their system (which is a bad idea in itself, because the more fonts you have, the slower your system runs) and they may want to use as many of those fonts as they can in every design they create.

Every font you use should have a specific purpose. Don’t use something like a cursive font or (heaven forbid) Comic Sans for the body text on your site. Not only is this not a good look aesthetically, but it also makes it harder to read the text. Use easy-to-read fonts like Helvetica, Arial, or Verdana.

You can get a little more creative when it comes to your logo and headlines, but you should still make sure that:

The fonts are easy to read, AND…

The fonts work for your niche. (For example, don’t use fancy script fonts on a masculine website, or huge, garish fonts on a feminine one.)

Mistake #4

Failure to Implement SEO

Every single website on the planet (except maybe those that are set up specifically to be private, which can be blocked with a password or robots.txt) needs search engine traffic. Otherwise, why even be online in the first place?

But unfortunately, a lot of web designers focus too much on the way a site looks and they forget to make sure the site is capable of getting traffic! (The prettiest website in the world isn’t going to do you a bit of good if no one ever sees it!)

Yes, your site should be attractive. And yes, your site should be user friendly. But you can’t forget to ensure that search engines can properly find and index your content. This requires using proper silo structure and making sure your navigation links are easy for search engines to find.

Here is some information on the silo structure:

>> http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm

Mistake #5

Failing to Make the Site Mobile Friendly

Let’s face it. Mobile is the wave of the future. Up to 90% of a given website’s traffic may be mobile these days, and that number is still rising. The personal computer is actually losing ground rapidly.

Most people use computers for things like writing documents and for working, but when it comes to browsing, more and more people are using tablets and smart phones, because they can be used anywhere.

Plus, as of April 2015, mobile friendliness is one of the factors Google uses to determine rankings. If your site is not mobile friendly, your rankings are likely to plummet unless all your other ranking factors are just phenomenal.

If you’re using WordPress, you can make your site mobile friendly by simply choosing a mobile friendly (also known as responsive) theme. If you’re building your own website, you will need to detect user agent in order to find out what system a visitor is using, and then direct those users to a mobile version of your website. This requires making different versions of your site for different platforms.

You can analyze your mobile friendliness here:

>> https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Mistake #6

Using Audio or Auto-Play Videos

Nothing is more irritating about the average website than being startled by loud audio that you weren’t expecting. This is especially true if it happens at an inopportune moment, such as when you’re surfing inconspicuously at work and it’s not break time, or if your kid is asleep and it wakes him up, or if you’re browsing somewhere you shouldn’t be (like, say, church or at a funeral – oops.)

Unless you have a very good reason for doing so, never automatically play audio or video on your website. Polls have shown that if a user is hit with audio or video that plays automatically, it drastically increases the chances that they will immediately leave. (This increases what is known as bounce rate, and if your bounce rate is too high, it can adversely effect your search engine rankings.)

The only time you should maybe set something to automatically play is when it is the primary focus of your page. For example, a video sales page or squeeze page might require auto-play.

Otherwise, make it so that users have to manually activate audio or video. Your users will thank you!

Mistake #7

Bad Navigation

Navigation is one of the most critical elements of any web design. If a user cannot find what they are looking for quickly, they are likely to leave just as quickly.

There are several locations for navigation options on any website. Here are a few places you can squeeze in the navigation you need:

Above the logo – This is a good place to have links to important pages like privacy pages and contact pages.

Below the logo – This is traditionally where you can find important links to articles and other content.

Sidebar – Your sidebar is another good place to locate stuff like article categories and pages.

Footer – More links can be placed in your footer, and this is a good place to include links to pages if you haven’t located those links above the logo.

You also want to be sure your site has search functionality if you have a large amount of content. Otherwise, it becomes nearly impossible for people to find the exact content they are looking for.

Mistake #8

Requiring Software Installations

Years ago, it was common to need to download a piece of software in order to use a particular website. Things like Real Player and various web cam programs required downloads to run, because their functionality wasn’t built in to browsers.

These days, with so many viruses going around that can steal your personal information or destroy your computer, people are wary of installing anything. If you require a download in order to use a function of your site, people are most likely just going to leave.

If you need functionality that you can’t get from standard HTML or CSS, consider using something like HTML5 or other standard formats. If it requires something that most people don’t have, you’re going to lose a whole lot of traffic.

You could also use Java or JavaScript, which most browsers can use natively these days.

You can read more about HTML5 here:

>> http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_intro.asp

Mistake #9

Improper Optimization

One of the biggest factors in SEO today is the speed at which your site loads. If your site is slow, you’re going to rank lower than a site that is speedier if all other factors are the same, simply because Google and other search engines understand that people are impatient and will quickly get bored and leave if a site takes too long to load.

The most important things to optimize are:

Images

Videos

Text itself doesn’t take long to load. It’s the images and videos on a website that can take a very long time to load. If you’re including photos in a blog post, for example, they don’t need to be massive in size unless they enlarge to show important details (like infographics, for example.)

Images should generally be about 400-1000 pixels at most, and no more than about 75k. Videos should be optimized for the smallest size possible without sacrificing quality. HD videos are great, but they take a while to load, and this could hurt your search rankings, especially if your videos are set to load and play automatically. They’ll just slow down the rest of your site.

Mistake #10

No Contact Information

Lack of contact information is a red flag for a lot of people, and it’s a red flag to Google. Sure, legitimate websites may not have contact information, but spammers almost never put contact information on their websites. If you have a contact page, people will trust you more.

Here are some reasons you might want to include contact information on your website:

It’s a ranking signal for Google. Google loves to see contact information on your website, because it makes the site look more legitimate. Spammers definitely don’t want to be contacted.

Users will trust your site more if they see you’re being open and allowing people to contact you.

You could get important messages from potential advertisers who want to give you money to advertise on your site.

It could save you from legal issues if someone can contact you to resolve potential issues instead of having to subpoena your information and potentially sue you because they couldn’t contact you to ask you to remove something you inadvertently used on your site, for example.

Conclusion

Web design is already a technical task. You have to learn how to use many different types of software, how to use scripts or program HTML or CSS, how to design graphics… it’s a lot of work and a lot of knowledge required.

But even the most experienced designers often lose sight of the big picture when it comes to building websites. They may focus too much on aesthetics that usability suffers, or vice versa. Or they may focus too much on SEO and not enough on user experience, or the other way around.

It’s important to be sure you’re looking at all potential aspects of design, and not focusing too much time and attention on any one factor. A harmonious design takes all factors into account equally in order to ensure the site is friendly to both users and search engines.

You might want to create a checklist with web design best practices that you should keep in mind every time you build a new site. This way you can be sure you’ve followed every step each time.

Good luck with your website!

from Anthony Aires http://anthonyaires.com/4803/web-design-mistakes/